ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed grave concern over repeated breakdowns and stoppage of production at Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project and directed them to take strict action and directly identify the responsible persons.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over a meeting regarding the Neelum Jhelum hydropower project where a preliminary report on the reasons for the closure of the project was presented. According to the report, the hydropower project was built in a weak geological and earthquake prone area.
At the meeting, there was opposition to the investigation being conducted through a third-party audit, with the Prime Minister hinting at the formation of a cabinet committee to identify responsible parties.
The prime minister said that despite the spending of billions of dollars, there were mistakes in the design of the project and in the construction, and there were places where it should have been filled with sand instead of concrete filling. Before Gizuba Group, China Energy addressed the challenges that needed to be overcome to bring the project into operation as soon as possible.
PM says it is not about me or WAPDA, fate of Pakistani people is related to it.
In the meeting, a committee comprising former secretary Shahid Khan and water resources minister Syed Ali Murtaza was constituted to probe the project’s shortcomings.
