Pakistan has agreed to pay US$45M to the Impregilio lead consortium constructing the Ghazi Barotha hydro power project. The payment requires the consortium to resume construction of the project within one month.
The agreement currently being drafted by the lawyers of the two sides would be subject to approval of the World Bank and the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, and payment of US$45M would be recoverable to WAPDA through an interim payment certificate or liquidity claims.
The contractor consortium submitted claims worth US$70M after the suspension of work following the 11 September attacks on the US World Trade Centre, but WAPDA initially offered US$25M to the consortium.
The US$2.5B Ghazi Barotha project is already behind its schedule by more than two years due to various reasons.