A Pakistan delegation will visit India from January 27 for inspection of projects in the Chenab basin. The visit is mandated by the Indus Waters Treaty to allow both sides to resolve issues related to hydroelectric projects

NEW DELHI: A three-member Pakistan delegation will visit India from January 27 for inspection of projects in the Chenab basin, official sources here confirmed. The visit is mandated by the Indus Waters Treaty to allow both sides to resolve issues related to hydroelectric projects.

In what was the first official engagement between India and the Imran Khan-led government last year, the two sides had discussed ways to strengthen the role of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) for resolving matters under the 1960 treaty. Pakistan’s water resources minister Faisal Vawda had described India’s approval to the visit as a major breakthrough.

“Pakistan and India have been into Indus water treaty dispute for ages. Due to our continued efforts there’s a major breakthrough that India has finally agreed to our request for inspection of Indian projects in Chenab basin,” he had tweeted. The two countries are currently involved in technical discussions on implementation of various hydroelectric projects under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty including Pakal Dul (1,000 MW) and Lower Kalnai (48 MW) in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.

Both the countries had in the last meeting agreed to undertake the treaty mandated tours of both the Indus Commissioners in the Indus basin on both sides.

Pakistan media reports had then said that India had invited Pakistani experts to visit the sites of the Pakal Dul and Lower Kalnai hydropower projects on the Chenab river next month to address Islamabad’s concerns over the construction of the projects. During the talks, India was said to have rejected Pakistan’s objections to the construction work.