Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has directed the concerned authorities to speed up the pace of work on Neelum-Jhelum Hydro Power Project to save the people from load shedding.
He stated this while inspecting various parts of the Neelum-Jhelum Hydel Power Project on Wednesday.
He was apprised that the Rs274.882 billion Neelum-Jehlum power project would have the capacity of generating 969 MW power.
The Power House of the project is located in the Chattar Kalass which is 22 kms south of Muzaffarabad. Installed capacity of the project is 969 MW comprising four units of 240 MW each.
The Prime Minister was given a briefing on the project during his visit to the site of Neelum-Jehlum hydro Power Project. The original cost of the project was Rs130 billion but the revised PC-1 cost of the project was put at Rs274.882 billion as it has escalated due to change in design and machinery requirement owing to the earthquake of 2005.
Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif‚ Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervez Rashid and Shaukat Tarin accompanied the Prime Minister on his first ever visit to any ongoing development/infrastructure project in the country after assuming his office.
President Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan‚ Prime Minister AJ&K Ch. Abdul Majeed and former Prime Minister of AJK Raja Farooq Haider received the Prime Minister at the site of the project.
Neelum Jehlum Hydro electric Project is a mega project of immense national importance. It is in the vicinity of Muzaffarabad (AJ&K) and envisages the diversion of Neelum river water through a tunnel and after producing power‚ out-falling into Jehlum river.
It will also help reduce the gap between demand and supply of power in the country.
The newly-elected government of Pakistan Muslim League-N is paying special attention to development of infrastructure projects in the country and the allocation of Rs. 1.1 trillion in Public Sector Project Programme (PSDP) in the FY 2013-14 is a clear manifestation of government's commitment on this count.