• Senate panel seeks transparent probe into tunnel collapse, project cost escalation
• Wapda reports Rs23bn loss due to fake bank guarantee in Nai Gaj Dam scheme
ISLAMABAD: The over Rs500 billion Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project (NJHPP), shut since a tunnel collapse on April 2, 2024, may resume power generation by March 2028, nearly four years after its closure.
This was disclosed to a parliamentary committee on Friday by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman retired Lt Gen Muhammad Saeed, who also reported a Rs23bn loss caused by a fake bank guarantee submitted by the defaulting contractor of the Nai Gaj Dam project in Sindh.
The Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources, chaired by Senator Jam Saifullah Khan, was also informed that groundwater levels had been falling beyond sustainable limits, particularly in Punjab’s agricultural belt, because of overexploitation, worsening Pakistan’s water crisis despite it already being among the world’s most water-stressed countries.
