Daily Times

LAHORE: In pursuance of the Supreme Court’s remarkable judgement for construction of two dams, the second meeting of the Implementation Committee of Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dams (ICBDMD) was held at ICDBMD Secretariat on Friday.

The meeting, chaired by Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen (r) Muzammil Hussain, was attended by the committee members, including Finance Division additional secretary (Budget), joint secretary (Water), Ministry of Water Resources, joint secretary (PM’s Office), Planning Division senior chief (Water), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa additional chief secretary (Development) and senior member Board of Revenue Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The co-opted members, including additional secretary (External Finance), joint secretary (EAD), joint secretary (Interior) and secretary (Implementation and Coordination) Gilgit Baltistan were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the meeting, the chairman said that the committee was committed to accomplishing the task assigned to it by the apex court for early commencement and timely completion of Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand dams.

He said that the committee had been zealously working to weigh various options for the purpose. The chairman expressed satisfaction over the prompt response of the sub-committees, constituted during the first meeting of ICDBMD on July 12, for identifying the issues and coming up with solutions.

Later, the sub-committees presented their reports at the meeting. The Sub-Committee for Land Acquisition and Resettlement briefed the meeting about the current status of the land acquisition and resettlement plans, the impediments in the way to completion of land acquisition and resettlement processes with defined timelines.

The Sub-Committee for Procurement and Implementation apprised the meeting about their analyses regarding procurement strategies and processes, proposed measures for their timely completion by identifying the issues and defining the redress mechanism with timelines.

The Sub-Committee for Projects’ Financing informed the meeting about the measures required to achieve financial close of two dams in time, the identified gaps in arranging the requisite financing and suggested timelines to ensure financial close with earliest possible dates.

The Sub-Committee for Security shared with the participants the security measures needed for timely completion of the projects.

The Sub-Committee for Coordination told the meeting the proposed mechanism to provide legal advice, logistic support and ancillary services to the implementation committee.

The implementation Committee thoroughly reviewed the presentations of the sub-committees and made recommendations to finalise their reports.

Published in Daily Times, July 21^st 2018.