About us
Who we are
Ghazi Barotha Taraqiati Idara (GBTI) a Development Organization was registered as a project non-profit organization in October 1995 under section 42 of Companies Ordinance of 1984.
The background to its establishment and the experiences since then are quite different from the other rural support programmes. In Pakistan Load shedding (brown out) is common and people face hours of interrupted supply of electricity on an almost daily basis. It is simply a reflection of the wide gap between supply and demand for this form of energy. One reason is simply the shortage of power-generating facilities in the country. The other is gross mismanagement of the distribution network. In the late 1980s the required additional generating capacity was estimated at 7,000 to 9,000 MW by 2005. Although significant private sector thermal generating capacity was anticipated between 1995 and 2000. Additional hydropower capacity was also required. It is in this context that the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project (GBHP) was identified. Intended to support the country’s least-cost development programme for expanding electricity generation, enhancing reliability of power supply and improving the power system control. GBHP was set up in the public sector by WAPDA a government-owned utility.
The project was designed to divert water from the Indus at Ghazi in Haripur district, about 7 km downstream from the Tarbela dam to a 52 km long concrete-lined channel. The channel was then to transport the water to a power plant at Barotha in Attock district. The power plant had five units of 290 MW each to generate 6,600 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of power annually. The intention was to exploit the 74m of hydraulic head available in the 63 km stretch between the tailrace of the Tarbela dam and the confluence of the Indus and the Haro rivers with no additional demand on the precariously scarce water resources of the surrounding country.
The objective of the project was to meet the demand for electricity in Pakistan by generating hydropower with minimal environmental and resettlement impacts. GBHP was completed in ten years (1994-2003) at a cost of about $2bn. It has three main components: a barrage at Ghazi, about seven kilometre downstream from Tarbela, with a 71mm² storage capacity; a 52 km long lined channel from Ghazi to Barotha: and a power complex at Barotha with 1,450 MW generating capacity. The power transmission lines to the national grid system have also been installed. GBHP is a run-of-the-river project with far less environmental and social impact than is often associated with large dams and reservoirs. The project was co-financed by the World Bank. Asian Development Bank. Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Kreditanstalt fur Widcruutbau (KfW-Germany), European investment Bank. Islamic Development Bank and WAPDA (Pakistan). The project experienced unexpected delays in its construction because of several factors including shortfalls in counterpart funds and disputes with labour, contractors, and the project affected population (PAP) concerned with land acquisition, compensation, and resettlement.
The implementation plan for the project included mitigation measures for the protection of the environment and a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) to address the issues of land acquisition, payment of compensation for land, income and assets, relocation of houses and resettlement of people affected by the project.
The environmental measures included: (i) continuously releasing a minimum of 28 cubic meters per second of water from the barrage so as not to have any impact on the downstream ecosystems and riverine conditions: (ii) implementing a monitoring programme for water quality and the local flora and fauna downstream of the barrage: (iii) providing a drainage system under the channel to minimize seepage losses and adverse effects on the local groundwater levels: and (iv) Implementing safety measures for the power channel.
According to the environmental assessment reports the project has met its expectations. In the context of the social impact of GBHP, given the sad experiences of other projects.
WAPDA and co-financers, led by the World Bank, decided that a Project Non-Governmental Organisation (PNGO) should be established to: (i) assist the 55 villages in Attock, Haripur and Swabi districts affected by the project to find appropriate and fair solutions to compensate the households for the appropriation of their land and to agree acceptable resettlement plans: and (ii) provide support through participatory organizations to enable the affected communities to raise their living standards.
In 1994. WAPDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NRSP to give support to the affected communities and help to establish the proposed PNGO. According to the agreement. NRSP together with community participation, a survey of 48 villages conducted in the project area prepared village profiles put in place” team of social organisers and other specialists and familiarised them with the project and its area, land records and rules governing the ownership and transfer of land, and prepared an integrated regional development plan (IRDP) for the PNGO to carry on the development work through participatory organisations to be formed by affected communities in the project area. Consequently In October 1995, NRSP registered the PNGO as Ghazi Barotha Taraqiati Idara under the Companies Ordinance of 1984 and GBHP WAPDA provided Rs.100m to PNGO as an endowment fund and Rs.99.376m to implement IRDP.
In view of socio-political challenges, WAPDA recognized that to implement an effective Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) in the GBHP Project area, WAPDA would require the assistance of a specialized organization in interfacing with affected communities to resolve the most intricate issues of land compensation and other resettlement matters.
WAPDA also envisage and the opportunity to ensure that the local communities benefit from compensation and other resettlement matters. WAPDA also envisage and opportunity to ensure that the local communities benefit from the construction of GBHP Project in a long-term and all-round way and not by way of piecemeal compensation. These tasks could best be carried out only with the active participation of the communities. The communities can also ensure sustainability of project gains, overtime. Clearly, in carrying out these specialized tasks, the communities need a long-term partnership with a body that can provide the required organizational support.
Vision
Directly & indirectly GBHP Project Affected Person (PAPs) will be organized in the form of their own organizations. The community institutions and their activists are recognized by the Government and private development agencies as vehicles for the sustainable development and poverty reduction.


Mission
To ensure fair and just implementation and compensation packages announced for affected communities of Ghazi Barotha hydro Project (GBHP) through involvement of all stakeholders and promote area development programme with a special focus on the poor and deprived communities.
Major Objectives
To foster the institutions of the people in all villages and settlements in GBHP affected area through a committed cadre of community activists and community extension workers/specialists. GBTI works to harness people’s potential for poverty reduction and improving their quality of life.GBTI pursues its objectives in the following two major categories:
Advocacy and Conflict Resolution: To facilitate a multi stakeholder consultation and interaction mechanism in achieving the desired GBHP project objectives.
Poverty Alleviation: To work as a catalyst, promoting participatory development of the affected communities to bring about lasting improvements in the quality of lives of the people of the Project area.


GBHP Affected Area
GBTI primarily works in the GBHP Project area, which consists of 55 affected villages located in three districts; Attock in Punjab province, Haripur and Swabi in KPK province and now it has been expanded its programme in 142 villages with the total population consisted of about 553,718 persons living in the 22 affected Union councils (UCs), whereas two UCs (Zarobi and Maini) were included in 2013. Moreover the credit programme has also been expanded to Haripur, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. GBTI has successfully dealt with most of the issues, faced by directly affected persons, while social mobilization intervention remained functional to bring the 73,829 households in 22 UCs under organised folds for promotion of a participatory socio-uplift work in the Project area.
The Project area lies within the borderlands of Punjab and KPK. The affected area is further divided in four regions i.e.Sarwala and Chachh regions in district Attok, Ghazi region located in tehsil Ghazi of district Haripur and the Right Bank Side region in district Swabi. At present, GBTI works in field through the lesion offices, located in Sarwala, Chachh, and Ghazi regions. The Ghazi region, however, covers the Right Bank Side region also. The majority of inhabits are Pakhtun in origin. There is a mixture of other groups of whom “Awans” are the largest. Linguistically the majority speaks variants of Punjabi, Seraiki with Hindko predominant in the Ghazi and Chach regions and the distinctive Attock dialect in Sarwala region. The whole Project area is “Barani” / rain-fed, with slight difference in terrain, rainfall, and ground water resources and agricultural productivity.
GBTI implemented Integrated Regional Development Programme (IRDP) of Rs.99.76 million in its programme area smoothly and successfully through WAPDA funding. The funds for IRDP were fully utilized by the end of financial year 2006-2007 since inception and an amount of Rs.19.762 million as a credit pool is being maintained by GBTI out of total 99.76 million rupees. WAPDA Audit Department had also conducted an audit of IRDP funds provided to GBTI and issued audit certificate. In addition to above WAPDA provided Rs.100 million as an endowment fund to GBTI for its sustainability. This experience enabled GBTI to access more donors.
A Unique Governing Structure
GBTI is governed by an independent Board of Directors (BoD). The governing Board is unique in many respects and distinguishes GBTI from other similar development and advocacy based organisations and exclusively portrays “Good Governance,” deep rooted in the organisational structure, right from top to bottom. The Board consists of “Technical Directors” and those directly elected by the community organisations in their capacity as members of the “Local Board of Directors (LBOD)”, who act in harmony with the local development needs. The LBOD effectively voice the concerns of GBHPP affectees, for a fair and timely resolution of their concerns.
