Criminal negligence committed by not doing third-party validation of project, says PM Shehbaz Sharif           Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project in this undated photo. — Wapda

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has commenced efforts to reactivate the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project which stopped generating power due to "defects in design".

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday directed to form a committee on an urgent basis for reactivating the hydropower project.

The premier was chairing a meeting to review the progress of the project at the PM House.

During the key huddle, he was briefed that power generation from the project was reduced on April 29, 2024, due to the pressure drop in the right and left headrace tunnels (HRT) of the hydropower project which was completed stopped on May 2, 2024.

A preliminary investigation report was presented in the meeting by former federal interior secretary Shahid Khan, who is the head of the committee investigating the recent faults in the project.

He told the meeting that the closure of the project is causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. It was told that the place where the current fault occurred was the rock burst zone.

The participants were further informed that during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regime in 2021, a significant decrease in power generation was seen from the project due to an abnormal drop in pressure in the HRT, but it was ignored and not reported. “The matter deliberately suppressed,” he added.

During the PTI rule, no repair work was done regarding the failure of the hydropower project in 2021, which continued to increase the losses due to “criminal negligence”, the meeting was informed.

The investigation report spotted defects which surfaced in 2021 which led to the suspension of power generation in 2022 due to the faults in the tailrace tunnel (TRT) of the project.

Geophysical and seismic factors were also ignored in the construction of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project and adequate concrete lining of HRT was also undone, it added.

PM Shehbaz issued a set of directives to immediately complete the investigation report regarding the recent closure of the project.

He ordered to identify of those responsible for the defects in the project and take strict action against them.

He expressed outrage over the negligence in the key power generation project despite experts pointing out the defects in its design and non-compliance with a detailed geological survey.

“Criminal negligence was committed by not doing third-party validation of the project,” the prime minister added.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Power Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Petroleum Minister Musadik Malik, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jehanzeb Khan, Coordinator to PM Rana Ehsaan Afzal, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Sajjad Ghani, former interior secretary, and other high officials.