The Diamer-Bhasha Dam, being built on the Indus River near Gilgit-Baltistan, is designed to store 8.1 million acre-feet (MAF) of water and generate 4,500 megawatts of electricity.
In a statement posted on X on Saturday, the Power Division of the Energy Ministry rejected reports suggesting that the government had decided to drop the dam’s power-generation component, describing the claim as “fake news”.
The ministry said the 4,500MW generation component remains a committed project and is included in both the current and future Indicative Generation Capacity Expansion Plan (IGCEP) documents.
The report in question had referred to an alleged government document from the Economic Affairs Division, reportedly prepared earlier this year. Citing an unnamed source, it claimed that the decision to delay the hydropower component was linked to lobbying by independent power producers (IPPs), which it alleged had received substantial payments despite generating little or no electricity.
According to the report, the document argued that Pakistan already had excess power-generation capacity and suggested that the 4,500MW hydropower facility could be developed at a later, unspecified stage, while construction of the dam as a water-storage reservoir could continue.
Rejecting the allegations, the Power Division said the government had effectively closed the door to new IPP projects following the introduction of a free electricity market.
“Any attempt to link IPPs with this project and sensationalise it is based on nothing but fake assumptions,” the ministry said.
