MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN

ISLAMABAD: Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) said on Monday that Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contractor for 102MW Gulpur Hydropower Project made a decision in haste to suspend work and vacate the project site.

“With a security alert the requirement is to be vigilant and re-enforce security at the site. However, the contractor made a premature decision to stop work and vacate the site. PPIB is pursuing with concerned quarters for resolution of the matter at the earliest,” said, Sami Rafi Siddiqui, a spokesman for PPIB.

On July 28, 2017, National Counter Terrorism Authority had written a letter to all relevant departments of the federal and AJ&K government, including heads of intelligence agencies, about threats to 102MW Gulpur Hydropower Project, saying that “it has been leant that Indian Border Action Team (BAT) is planning to target the project by using Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)”.

The 102MW Gulpur Hydropower Project is located in district Kotli of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and so far forty percent of project progress has been achieved. The project is being implemented by Mira Power Limited, a subsidiary of KOEN, Daelim and Lotte. 

The company was informed that BAT claimed to have photographs of foreigners working on the project in addition to site maps and threatened to demolish the project with IEDs.

On Monday, a team of Gulpur Hydropower Project held a detailed meeting with Chief Secretary AJ&K, Dr Munir Ijaz in Kashimr House, Islamabad, and explained the reasons for vacating the project. The meeting was also attended by senior police officials who are responsible for providing security at the project site.

The sources said, the AJ&K government team heard the viewpoint of the Project Company with patience and assured it that the project site will be searched carefully and police strength will be doubled to secure the site.

“AJ&K government has assured that the project site will be handed over to the company after a thorough search within a couple of days,” the sources added. The project company will also increase its strength of security personnel at the site.

A letter was issued by National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to Chief Secretary AJ7K and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with the subject title: “Threat alert- 443 to Gulpur Hydropower project, Kotli” with copies forwarded to the President, the Prime Minister, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Operation, Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Ministry of Interior.

Pakistan Army declined to comment and advised Business Recorder to approach Ministry for Water and Power on the subject.

Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria was not available for comments despite repeated text messages and telephone calls on his cell phone till the filing of this report.

When contacted, an official of Interior Ministry said that the Ministry was not aware of this development.

Gulpur Hydropower Project is the third independent hydropower project in Pakistan. The Korean company has also been awarded other contracts to build hydropower plants in the country on BOOT basis including 150 MW Patrind Hydropower Plant and 100MW Kotli Hydropower Project.

Construction of Gulpur Hydropower Plant commenced in September 2014 and the project is expected to be completed in early 2019. The total cost of the project is about Rs 34 billion. Gulpur Hydropower Project is part of the least-cost energy generation plan of the Government of Pakistan. It is being executed on a priority basis to harness indigenous hydropower resources to improve the ratio of hydel electricity in the national grid and help provide relief to consumers.

On its completion, Gulpur Hydropower project will generate about 465 Gwh of inexpensive electricity annually to earn a revenue of about Rs 1 billion. Being an environment friendly hydropower project, it will help reduce dependence on expensive thermal power, thereby saving foreign exchange amounting to $36 million (equivalent to Rs 3 billion) to the country. According to estimates, Gulpur hydropower project will add about Rs 10 billion per annum to the national economy through socio-economic uplift in the country caused by the project.