The ministry kept reminding it repeatedly of appointments, but no one listened. During this chaos, the former chairman suddenly resigned on June 20, sources.
Dawn Investigation Cell, Dawn TV
(Retd) Generals destroyed the institution. The country’s largest government institution, WAPDA, is currently in a severe administrative crisis due to the absence of permanent officers; key positions have been vacant for 9 months, while major development projects have slowed down, and the institution is being run only on a ‘supervision’ basis.
The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), which is one of the largest government institutions in the country and has a financial volume of about $70 billion, is currently facing serious bureaucratic hurdles due to the absence of key decision-making officers.
Two key positions in WAPDA’s governing body have been vacant for the past nine months, severely affecting the organization’s performance.
This administrative paralysis is also worrisome because WAPDA is currently working on three of the country’s largest hydropower projects in history: Diamer Bhasha, Dasu and Mohmand Dams.
In addition, WAPDA also practically handles the operational system of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which ensures water distribution among federal units and agricultural supply.
Ironically, however, IRSA itself is currently embroiled in legal disputes over the composition of its board, with the appointment of a permanent member from Sindh at the center of the dispute.
Under the WAPDA Act, the governing body consists of three permanent members – water, power and finance – and a permanent chairman, who oversees funds worth hundreds of billions of rupees every year.
Currently, the body is functioning without permanent members for water and power and the responsibilities of these positions have been entrusted to two senior officers, Syed Ali Akhtar Shah (Water) and Muhammad Irfan (Power) as ‘supervisors’.
Syed Ali Akhtar Shah was earlier the General Manager Water (South), while Muhammad Irfan is also the Chief Executive Officer of Neelum, Jhelum Hydropower Company.
When the former Chairman Lt. Gen. (retd) Sajjad Ghani resigned in June, the sole permanent member, Naveed Asghar Chaudhry, was additionally given the responsibility of chairman.
Naveed Asghar Chaudhry is primarily the Finance Member and holds a permanent appointment to the post.
This means that the four-member board is currently functioning with one permanent member and two officers holding ‘additional charge’.
Naveed Chaudhry had previously served as interim chairman in 2022, when Lt. Gen. (retd) Muzammil Hussain resigned due to ‘personal reasons’ and the post was handed over to Lt. Gen. Sajjad Ghani three months later.
According to the former Director General of Human Resources of WAPDA, this is an administrative mismanagement, for which a heavy price is being paid at the national level.
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