The rapid formation of a commission to reactivate the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project, which fully halted power generation last month, was instructed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday.
At the PM House, the premier was presiding over a meeting to assess the project’s advancement.
He was informed during the crucial meeting that the hydropower project’s power generation was lowered on April 29, 2024, as a result of a pressure decrease in the right and left headrace tunnels (HRT), which were finished on May 2, 2024.
Shahid Khan, the former federal interior secretary and head of the committee looking into the current project flaws, gave a preliminary inquiry report at the meeting.
He informed the assembly that the national exchequer is losing millions of rupees as a result of the project’s closure. The rock burst zone was mentioned as the location of the present fault.
The attendees were also told that a notable decline in power generation was observed from the project in 2021 during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regime, but it was disregarded and not reported. This was because of an unusual reduction in pressure in the HRT. He continued, “The matter was purposefully suppressed.”
