LAHORE: Wapda Chairman Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (r) on Saturday visited Mohmand Dam project to review the situation in the wake of unprecedented flood peaks in River Swat.

Federal Secretary Water Resources Dr Kazim Niaz also accompanied him on the occasion. Mohmand Dam Project Director, senior Wapda officers, representatives of the consultants and the contractor were also present during their visit.

They took a detailed round of various components of the project to have first-hand information about the adverse impact of the flood in the project area.

The Mohmand Dam Project management made a detailed presentation about the pre-and post-flood situations. The management pointed out that construction activities were continuing at a good pace on 14 locations of the project prior to the flood that severely hit the construction area on Thursday.

According to the management of the dam, the impact of the flood and loss to different components of the project, especially diversion tunnels, re-regulation pond and periphery roads on both banks of River Swat in the project area. It was further briefed that this loss and impact will affect timelines of the project’s completion. The Federal Secretary and the Chairman were also apprised of the measures taken by the project management to avoid any further loss.

Speaking on the occasion, the Wapda Chairman said that the prompt response of the project management to such an unprecedented flood had not only helped minimize the impact of the flood but also saved precious lives of the engineers and workers at the construction sites, which is commendable. He said that construction activities should be resumed immediately after the passage of the flood. The Chairman directed the project management to devise a contingency plan in consultation with the consultants and the contractor to overcome possible delays in the completion of the project.

It is pertinent to mention that Mohmand Dam is being constructed on River Swat in District Mohmand of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the 5th highest concrete-face-rock-fill Dam (CFRD) in the world. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2026. On completion, the dam will store about 1.2 million acre feet (MAF) of water and help mitigate floods in Peshawar, Charsadda and Naushera. Besides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, about 18,237 acres of new land will also be irrigated. Mohmand Dam Power House will generate 800 megawatts (MW) of hydel electricity, contributing 2.86 billion units of low-cost and environment-friendly hydel electricity annually to the National Grid. In addition, 300 million gallons of water per day will also be provided to Peshawar for drinking purposes. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs51.6 billion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022