Tarbela Dam Project Cost Goes Over-Budget By Rs. 23,400 Crore

The cost of Pakistan's Tarbela 5th Extension Project has skyrocketed by 282 percent, soaring from an initial estimate of Rs. 82 billion to a staggering Rs. 316 billion. This significant increase of Rs. 234 billion has raised serious questions about the project's management, oversight, and past structural failures. The project's recent delays and setbacks have made the situation even more concerning, with an investigation into the downstream cofferdam collapse attributing the failure to a design change, insufficient supervision, and delayed administrative action rather than flooding.

Despite these issues, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, approved the revised cost as part of a larger package of 16 development schemes totaling Rs. 1.15 trillion. The Tarbela project's original budget was substantially lower, but the latest revision has pushed the total to Rs.

316 billion. Other projects approved by the ECNEC include the Lahore-Sahiwal-Bahawalnagar Motorway, the Khwazakhela-Besham Expressway, the Gilgit-Baltistan-Azad Kashmir road project, and the Rathoa Haryam Bridge. The package also features a wastewater treatment project in Lahore, a poverty alleviation program, and the Fulbright scholarship program.

All in all, these 16 projects have an estimated combined cost of Rs. 1.15 trillion, with additional costs linked to delays and price increases reaching around Rs. 320 billion.