Winder Dam project will irrigate 10,000 acres of agriculture land in Balochistan, which will be constructed at the cost of Rs 15.230 billion.

Federal government will finance the project entirely, which would be executed by Irrigation Department of Balochistan government.

The project will be implemented in four years, the documents related to the project revealed. Documents showed that the main objective of the project is to provide 50 cusecs assured irrigation water supply to irrigate 10,000 acres of agriculture land round the year with average cropping intensity of 82 percent.

Lined watercourses will be constructed in the command area under the project. It will improve socio economic conditions of communities living in and around the project area.

The physical scope of work envisages, construction of 40-m high and 1,452-m long earth core rock filled type embankment dam with live storage of 46,724 Ac-ft (57.63 MCM), gated control Ogee type spillway with design discharge of 256,800 Cusecs and 20.5 kms long irrigation canal with 50 cusecs maximum design discharge capacity to irrigate 10,000 acres of land.

Keeping in view of the potential agriculture land in the project area, the Government of Balochistan, through Irrigation Department, planned to construct Winder Dam project.

The feasibility study of Winder Dam was carried out by Wapda through a consultant firm. The project is part of water sector strategy, which centers around five important elements i.e. water augmentation, water conservation, groundwater management, protection of infrastructure from water logging, salinity, floods and institutional reforms.

The project is related to the issue of water scarcity, need for additional water reservoirs and increased poverty in backward irrigated areas.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019