Pak initiates process to resolve Kishanganga issue with India

Pakistan has instituted proceedings in the International Court of Arbitration to resolve the issue of the Kishanganga dam, which India is building on the Neelum river in Jammu & Kashmir, a federal minister has said.

Water and power minister Raja Pervez Ashraf made the remarks in the national assembly or lower house of parliament yesterday.

He said the court is likely to take up the matter soon. India had addressed Pakistan's concerns on a parapet of the Nimmo Bazgo hydroelectric project on the Indus river but concerns relating to pondage, spillway and power intake are yet to be resolved, he said.

Issues involving the construction of the Uri-II hydroelectric plant by India on the Jhelum river and the Chutak hydroelectric plant on a tributary of the Indus too have been resolved by the Permanent Indus Waters Commission, Ashraf said.

Designs and tender documents for Pakistan's Diamer Bhasha dam had been completed and the Asian Development Bank has promised to partly finance the project, he said.

Referring to a news report about the phenomenal rise in the cost of five small dams, Ashraf said the original plan stipulated building of dams but the cost had gone up due to the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council's request for establishing a sprinkler system for irrigation.