A 16km long water transfer tunnel has been proposed as part of Pakistan’s US$1.4bn, 740MW Kohala hydro-electric project in Azad Kashmir, according to a detailed feasibility study carried out by US-based Synergics Energy.
But the firm will only submit its report to the Pakistan authorities after the government guarantees the study’s intellectual property rights.
The company said that it would lodge the report in February on two conditions. First, that the report would not be given to other investors. If it was, the government would pay a US$6M fee. Second, it would go-ahead and develop the scheme under a 30-year concession according to the original conditions of a 1995 letter of intent awarded by the then Pakistan government.
