PM’s speech motivates expat Pakistanis to generously donate for dams

ISLAMABAD, Sep 09 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent speech calling the expatriate Pakistanis to donate for construction
of Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand dams has triggered a lively debate among the
Pakistanis including those living abroad on social media showing their excitement
to generously contribute in development of the dams.
The expatriate Pakistanis seem to be more eager than ever to donate for the fund after receiving
a call from the PM whom they consider an honest and dedicated man.
The social media users are also encouraging others to donate for the fund by posting on their
social media walls, the proofs of their donations made for the fund.
A representative of Pakistani community from Qatar, Malik Qaiser Awan, who is working as
coordinator in IPF group of companies Qatar, announced through a video message
on social media to immediately transfer US$100,000 to Prime Minister and Chief
Justice of Pakistan Fund for Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand dams on behalf of
Pakistani community living in Qatar.
“We are a group of some friends from Pakistanis living in Qatar and we have decided to send at least $1
million and will continue sending the money until the target has completed,” he
said adding Imran Khan was a trustworthy as he delivered by successfully
managing cancer hospitals and university in the country.
Zafar Iqbal, a mechanical engineer in Masqat, Oman told this scribe that he among all his
other Pakistanis living in Masqat were very passionate to make their contribution
in the fund.
He said the prime minister was himself a devoted and loyal person and people trust him that he
would not let the donated money waste away.
He alleged that in the past the corrupt rulers ate up the donated money collected for “Qarz utaro
mult sanwaro” scheme.
The enthusiasm is not being shown by the well-off people only but the low income people living abroad are also quite passionate in this regard as a video got viral on social media
of a taxi driver living in United Arab Emirate (UAE) who said that he would
also donate around $50 to the fund according to his affordability.
Before the appeal made by the PM, expatriate Pakistanis have shown a lukewarm response to the
fund as only Rs 21.5 million were contributed by them out of total received
amount of Rs 1.94 billion, according to data updated by State Bank of Pakistan
(SBP) on September 6, 2018.
The SBP has also announced through a circular that all issuing and acquiring banks in Pakistan
will not charge any service fee including interchange fee, merchant discount
rate, transaction fee etc on all transactions from abroad that will be made
through payment cards (debit, credit or prepaid cards).
Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Senator Shibli Faraz while talking to a news
channel hoped that the fund would receive contribution from the Pakistanis
living abroad, of around one to two billion dollars in next 6 months.
According to experts, if the government managed to accumulate fund of around Rs 400-500 billion, work
on Diamer Bhasha dam could be started by mid of next year.
Under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), 2018-19, the federal government has already
allocated Rs 23.68 billion for the dam, while total PSDP share for the project
has been fixed at Rs 232 billion which would be disbursed in next few years
during the course of construction of the dam.
Back in April, 2018, the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) had
approved the construction of Diamer Bhasha dam at an initial estimated cost of
Rs 474 billion.
However, the total cumulative cost of the dam would be at least around Rs 1400 billion once
power generation facilities are accounted for.
The gigantic project will have a 6.4 million acre
feet live water storage capacity with installed power capacity of 4,500MW.
After completion, the project would increase
national water storage capacity of up to 45 days and would enhance life span on
downstream reservoirs including Tarbela Dam.