News Desk |
On Friday, January 11, 2019, the Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar regretted that the matter of Nai Gaj Dam’s construction would most probably not be resolved within the span of his tenure, which ends on January 17, 2019. “I wanted to wrap up this case during my tenure, but it seems that wish will now remain unfulfilled.” – Justice Nisar
The court was told that the committee had forwarded its recommendations to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), and efforts were being made to schedule an ECNEC meeting before the completion of Justice Nisar’s tenure.
The completion of the Nai Gaj dam has already been delayed by at least four years and the main reason for this is recognized as an inadequate amount of funds.
The petitioners informed the court that ECNEC is yet to grant approval of the project. Although the preparations for the dam have been finalized, Justice Nisar regretted that the delay in the construction work is due to ECNEC’s deliberations.
Previously on December 28, 2019, the bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the case regarding lack of funding in the construction of the dam. The court asked the ministers who appeared before the court to produce a timeframe for the construction of the project. The timeframe was expected to be provided promptly, so no further delay stands in way of the construction of the dam.
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The bench then summoned Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan, Minister for Finance Asad Umar and cabinet secretary to appear before the court in the next hearing of the case, which has been set for Tuesday, January 15. In this appearance, the ministers will explain their positions on the matter of dam’s development to the bench.
Nai Gaj dam is an embankment dam on the hilly torrent of Gaj in the gorge area at the edge of Kirthar Mountains range at about 65 km (40 miles) north-west of Dadu city. The completion of the Nai Gaj dam has already been delayed by at least four years and the main reason for this is recognized as an inadequate amount of funds.
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At completion, the dam’s power station will have a 4.2 MW installed capacity of power generation, which will be a massive addition to Pakistan’s energy resources. But the fact of the matter is, for how much longer the project will remain on stand-still.