PML-N leaders accuse KP govt of misappropriation

PESHAWAR: Three central leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) here Friday accused the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government of misappropriation in the Hydel Development Fund and asked Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan to initiate an inquiry into it and send the case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
“The provincial government is involved in gambling over the fund as it has invested the amount in Karachi Stock Exchange to earn profit instead of executing hydel power projects,” alleged Member National Assembly Daniyal Aziz while addressing a press conference here.
Flanked by MNAs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Maiza Hammed, he said the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)-led government had planned execution of power projects of 3,260 megawatts, but only 687.4 MW schemes were mentioned and the rest of 2,573 MW have disappeared from the documents.
According to Daniyal Aziz, of the 687.4 MW projects that were mentioned, only those of 426 MW are “under consideration” leaving only 261.4 MW projects actually being implemented. He added that even the 261.4 MW projects that under construction in 2013-14 are now back to the tendering stage for 52.8 MW.
He said that the 2.6 MW Machai project and 17 MW Ranolai project that were to be completed in March 2015 are still incomplete. He alleged that these projects could not be executed due to corruption and mismanagement causing grave problems to the people who were expecting a change.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had great potential for hydel power generation, but the provincial government had failed to utilise the rich water resources that could benefit not only people of the province but the whole country. He said the ‘disappeared’ projects included those in Chitral that were to generate 1,648 MW, along with the ones in Dir for 207 MW, Shangla 14 MW, Battagram 10 MW, Mansehra 595 MW, Malakand 81 MW and Swabi 18 MW.
The PML-N leader said the Hydel Development Fund of Rs25 billion meant for executing power projects was invested in the stock market to benefit the high and mighty business people, who like some of the ruling party leaders were interfering in KP affairs instead of providing cheap power to the starving poor. “Billions of rupees have been illegally utilised for purposes other than power generation,” he added.
He said the average cost of per megawatt power generation by the KP government was an average of $2.6 million in 2013-14 against international prices of $1.4 to $1.59.
“Thus far, 3,260 MW projects, if installed, would cost KP $8.528 billion whereas international average low price would amount to $4.890 million. This would cause loss of 363 billion rupees,” he claimed.
Daniyal Aziz alleged that no audited accounts of the Hydel Development Fund have been provided from 1992 to 2014 and loss of millions still continues due to no interest on Rs563 million withdrawn for Lowari and Matiltan projects, of which Rs548 million are still unused.