Neelum-Jehlum project gets $328-mn financial assistance

Lahore: The international donors pledged an initial financial assistance, amounting to 328 million dollars for construction of 969 MW Neelum-Jehlum hydroelectric project.

This announcement was made in a meeting attended by the delegates of Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwait Fund for Development and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

Islamic Development Bank representative Farrukh Muhammad said that the financial assistance was meant for the first three lots of the contract of Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project. Terming the project an important one, he said that with the progress of construction of the project, more funding would be made available.

Speaking on the occasion, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Shakil Durrani said that Neelum-Jhelum was an environment-friendly project with 26 percent economic internal rate of returns (EIRR).

He said that the project would help increase hydel ratio in the overall power generation by contributing more than five billion cheap electricity units annually to the national grid.

The Wapda Chairman expected that the project would be completed ahead of schedule, as a bonus clause pertaining to early completion of the project had been introduced in the contract.