By Ijaz Kakakhel

The Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives has asked the Power Division to ensure early sanctioning and release of funds for the strategically important 765kV Dasu-Islamabad Transmission Line Project.

According to official documents available with Wealth Pakistan, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project on October 1, 2020, with a budget of Rs132.250 billion.

The documents state that the project includes a foreign aid component of Rs112.229 billion and a local component of Rs30.021 billion.

Official records show that cumulative expenditure on the project reached Rs105.638 billion by June 30, 2026, indicating that a substantial portion of the approved expenditure has already been incurred.

The Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2026-27 has allocated Rs5.829 billion as rupee cover against the project’s foreign aid component.

The project falls under the administrative control of the Power Division, which is responsible for sanctioning and releasing funds for the scheme under the development budget release mechanism.

The Planning Ministry has issued a one-line authorisation of Rs10.832 billion to the Power Division for the first quarter of 2026-27 against its total PSDP allocation of Rs88 billion.

However, according to the SAP record dated September 18, 2026, only Rs122.30 million had been recorded against the transmission project’s rupee-cover allocation of Rs5.829 billion.

The Planning Ministry has consequently asked the Power Division to expedite the sanctioning and payment process for the transmission line project.

Under the PSDP release mechanism for 2026-27, the Finance Division has set quarterly expenditure ceilings of 15% for the first quarter, 20% for the second, 25% for the third and 40% for the fourth quarter.

The Planning Ministry’s one-line authorisation empowers principal accounting officers of the ministries and divisions concerned to sanction and release funds to individual budgeted projects according to their requirements while remaining within the authorised quarterly ceilings.

The latest direction aims to ensure that funds already earmarked for the transmission project are processed without unnecessary delay so that implementation does not suffer because of financing bottlenecks.

Credit: INP-WealthPk