ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif Tuesday said the Nandipur Power project was being executed in a transparent manner.
Setting aside the reports regarding financial embezzlement and corruption in the project, the minister informed the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water and Power that the government believed in fairplay and transparency.
The meeting of the committee was held here under the chairmanship of Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari.
Khawaja Asif said Transparency International, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in their reports had said that there were no sign of any corruption in the project.
He said there was delay in execution of the project because of some delay on part of the Ministry of Law and Justice in giving legal opinion on some matters, which resulted in cost escalation from Rs 22 billion to Rs 58 billion.
The government opted to resume the work as huge amount of Rs 31.86 billion was already spent and successfully made it operational from October 2015, he informed.
He pointed out that due to slight change in its design the plants started producing electricity and touched 480 mega watt generation.
“The Monday night its production stock was at 55MW which is over and above its capacity,” he added.
The committee appreciated the steps taken by the present government for completing the much-delayed power project.
Among others, Members National Assembly Malik Ihtebar Khan, Sardar Mansab Ali Dogar, Rana Afzaal Hussain, Rana Muhammad Ishaq Khan, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Nawab Muhammad Yousaf Talpur, Junaid Akbar, Rai Hasan Nawaz, Syed Waseem Hussain, Moulana Muhammad Gohar Shah Sahibzada Muhammad Yaqub attended the meeting.
Source: APP
