Asian Development Bank refuses to fund dam project in POK

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has refused to commit funds for Pakistan’s $14-billion dam project on the Indus river in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK), two years after the World Bank declined to fund the project following Islamabad’s refusal to seek an NOC from India.

“We did not really make any commitment. This is a very big project,” ADB president Takehiko Nakao said at a joint news conference with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on the conclusion of the 15th ministerial meeting of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) programme on Wednesday.

Underlining that the project on the Indus in Gilgitbaltistan region was very important for Pakistan’s energy and irrigation requirements, Nakao called for the formation of more partnerships that could provide funding for the project, expected to generate 4,500 MW power .

“We haven’t decided

This comes two years after the World Bank declined to fund the project, following Islamabad’s refusal to seek an NOC from India

[whether to fund] this project yet because it needs big money,” he said, adding that the ADB might consider joining the financing of this project at a later date, the Dawn reported. He said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was conducting a feasibility study on the dam.

Repeated efforts to rope in the World Bank as a co-lender had failed two years ago when the government declined to seek an NOC from India for the project.