Pakistan slow in challenging India's obstructive hydro project

Pakistan's delay in challenging the construction of the 45-megawatt Nimoo-Bazgo Hydropower Project before the ICA may benefit India.

A senior Pakistani official said that the case before the International Court of Arbitration would be taken up next month due to a delay in preparing the documents.

India has said that it would complete the controversial project by June 2013, but Pakistani authorities are continuously delaying the decision to challenge construction of the project.

A source said the commission had decided to maintain silence on the issue following an inquiry initiated against former Pakistan’s water commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah for his alleged involvement in facilitating Indian authorities in the construction of the project.

The 57-metre-high Nimoo-Bazgo Hydroelectric Project and the 42-metre-high Chuttak Hydroelectric Project will reduce the flow of the Indus River, which is a lifeline of Pakistan.

A Pakistani delegation, which had earlier visited the site of the project had claimed that

the concerned project negates the provisions of Indus Waters Treaty.