The government is considering the transfer to funds collected under Neelum Jehlum (NJ) surcharge to the construction of Rs 442 billion Diamer Bhasha Dam project.
The NJ surcharge was imposed in 2007 by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, at 10 Paisa per unit on electricity consumers except the then Karachi Electric Supply Company, now KE, and lifeline consumers for eight years starting from January 1, 2008 to 1 December 2015. However, the application of Neelum Jhelum surcharge remained in place, with approval of the ECC on different occasions even after operationalization of Neelum Jehlum project. On May 31, 2018, the then ECC decided to continue recovery of NJ surcharge until the project achieves Commercial Operation Date (COD).
According to an estimate, Wapda has generated over Rs 70 billion from NJ surcharge during the first ten years, starting from January 2008 uptill June 2020 approximately at the rate of Rs 7.2 billion per annum.
