ISLAMABAD: The delay in construction work of the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project will increase its cost by 50 per cent to Rs414 billion.
Sources said that the project’s initial estimated cost was Rs 274 billion in 2012. They said that the surge in cost was due to depreciation in rupee value, imposition of tax and duties on the import of machinery and buying latest boring machinery. The early completion of the project a tunnel-boring machine was purchased in 2013 for Rs 12 billion.
Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project is located in the vicinity of Muzaffarabad. It envisages the diversion of the River Neelum water through a tunnel falling into the River Jhelum. The intake Neelum-Jhelum is at Nauseri 41km east of Muzaffarabad and has installed capacity of 969MW. The project was originally estimated to cost Rs 130 billion in 2007, which went up to Rs 275 billion in 2012, partly because of changes in specifications arising out of geographical changes following the devastating earthquake of 2005.
