Duty exemption for Pakistani hydropower project TBMs yet to be realised
17 June 2014The exemption of duty for TBMs and other important equipment – for the ongoing 969MW Neelum Jhelum Hydro Power Project (NJHPP), located in Azad Kashmir, 22km south of Muzaffarabad – is yet to be realised despite the directives of Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
The CEO of NJHPP Lt. Gen. (retired) Zubair, while talking to the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency in Islamabad on 7 June, said that some necessary equipment has already been reached at Islamabad Airport and Karachi Port. However, the concerned department has not yet cleared it despite exemption.
He said the finance ministry, on the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has approved PKR 14bn (USD 142M) for this purpose and expressed the hope that the equipment would be released soon.
Zubair said that overall 61 per cent work has been completed on the project and all out efforts are being made to complete it before its scheduled time (2016). He added that the project would cost PKR 274bn (USD 2.8bn).
Zubair expressed the hope that the first power unit of 242MW would start generation by December 2015 subject to availability of funds.
He said that 72 per cent work on the main dam has also been completed while work on a 19km tunnel is being carried out carefully. Out of the total, 4.5 km tunnel has already been completed, he added.
