Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Monday reviewed progress on key Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects in the power and water resources sectors, flagging a funding gap exceeding Rs1 trillion against limited allocations for FY2025-26.
According to an official release, the Joint Chief Economist (Operations) informed the meeting that projects face a throw-forward of more than Rs1 trillion, while only Rs122 billion has been allocated under the PSDP for the year. The minister took note of low utilisation levels, with spending at about 10% for Power Division projects and 6% for hydel schemes under the Water Resources Division.
The minister directed officials to accelerate work on priority projects, noting that power and water remain among the largest consumers of development funds. To ease fiscal pressure, he advised prioritising completion of ongoing projects at advanced stages and avoiding new commitments on schemes showing no progress unless deemed essential.
He asked the Power Division to identify critical projects and submit a three-year, year-wise minimum funding plan. Projects reviewed included the 2x660MW Jamshoro coal-fired plant (Rs177bn), the Power Distribution Enhancement Investment Programme (Tranche-I), the Advanced Metering Infrastructure project (Rs16.9bn), electricity distribution efficiency projects in MEPCO (Rs10.2bn) and HESCO (Rs8.1bn), the 500kV Matiari–Moro–Rahim Yar Khan transmission line (Rs188.5bn), and another distribution efficiency project costing Rs11.7bn.
Hydel and transmission initiatives discussed included Dasu transmission lines, the Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project, NTDC’s telecommunications and SCADA upgradation at the National Power Control Centre, and evacuation of power from the 2,160MW Dasu Hydropower Project (Stage-I).
The meeting directed the Power Division secretary to resolve utilisation bottlenecks through closer coordination with the Finance and Planning divisions, aiming to translate allocations into operational assets and limit cost overruns and delays.
