Islamabad, July 30 (ANI): Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has reportedly failed to achieve a hydel power generation capacity of 6,720 MW despite borrowing heavily from the Water and Power Ministry for initiation and completion of the ongoing hydel power projects.
According to the Daily Times, the total installed capacity of hydropower projects in Pakistan was 6,720 megawatt (MW) till last year, out of which 3,849 MW was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,699 MW in Punjab, 1,039 MW in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and 133 MW in the Gilgit-Baltistan.
The organization has not added a single water reservoir to increase hydel power capacity during the tenure of its Chairman Shakeel Durrani except claiming the completion of Mangla reservoir upraising, which has not reached at end due to non-payment of compensation to affected people of the site.
The public holding office ascertained that 38 hydel projects remained in the pipeline and implementation of these incomplete projects is expected soon with no time-frame.
According to the data, not even a single hydro-power project has been operational since past 10 years, while former Irrigation Department official, on condition of anonymity, said over 10 to 12 million acres feet (MAF) of water from 18 hydrological basins in Balochistan were wasted due to non-existence of water storage infrastructure.
He said if WAPDA took serious initiatives to build the water storage infrastructure, over 10 MAF of water, which was rendered useless after falling into the sea, could be utilised for hydel power generation.
A WAPDA's Planning Wing senior official, on the condition of anonymity, said the basic reason for delaying non- commissioning of hydel power project was the appointment of non-technical staffers on key posts, including Chairman Shakeel Durrani, who has never served as a technical manager. (ANI)
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