Supreme Court hears case about delay in Nai Gaj dam construction

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday adjourned hearing about construction of Nai Gaj dam in Dadu district of Sindh till Monday, ARY News reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the case regarding lack of funding in the construction of the dam project, which has delayed the completion of the project.

The top court had accepted a petition for hearing regarding the construction of Nai Gaj dam in September this year.

The bench issued a notice to federal government seeking its reply over the funds for construction of the dam.

The judges observed that all stakeholders are agreed over construction of the project but funds not being released for it.

The counsel of the petitioner, Faisal Siddiqui, said that the dam will not be built on river but the water of the hilly torrents of Kirthar Mountain range will be stored in the water reservoir. The rainwater of the torrents will be stored in the reservoir and supplied to the Manchhar Lake.

The dam will provide freshwater to Manchhar Lake and generate electricity, the counsel further said.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar asked the counsel who is implementing authority of the project, the counsel responded that Wapda is the authority responsible for building the dam.

All matters have been settled, nothing is contentious but the project faces lack of funding, the counsel added.

According to sources, the completion of the Nai Gaj dam has been delayed by at least four years and the main reason is insufficient funding for the project.

The construction work on the Nai Gaj dam was started in year 2012 and the project was supposed to be completed by April 2015. But due to the inordinate delay it is now expected to be completed by June 2019.

The delay has led to escalation in the cost of the project from initial Rs16.92 billion to over Rs26bn, as stated in the revised PC-I.

Nai Gaj Dam is an embankment dam on the Gaj River in the gorge area at the edge of Kirthar Mountains range at about 65 km (40 miles) north-west of Dadu city. The dam’s power station would have a 4.2 MW installed capacity.