Purchase of land for Mohmand dam to begin soon: Wapda chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) will soon begin the process to purchase land for the construction of Mohmand Dam, a media report said.

Wapda Chairman Lt. Gen. (retd) Muzammil Hussain, in a recently held meeting of the task force on dams, said, Wapda will pay appropriate compensation to the locals for their land and other assets and also develop infrastructure, health and education facilities and water supply schemes in the area as its corporate social responsibility.

He said Mohmand Dam is immensely important, as it will store 1.2 million acre feet of water for irrigating agriculture land and generating 800 megawatts of energy.

He said the feasibility study of the project has already been completed and evaluation of the project started. The project, scheduled to be completed in five years and eight months after start of the construction work, will significantly contribute towards development of agriculture, industrial, economic and social sectors, he added.

Senior Member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a meeting of Sub-Committee on Land Acquisition and Resettlement for Mohmand Dam, informed the meeting that the process of land acquisition for Mohmand Dam was in advanced stage and the acquisition will commence soon.

Addressing the meeting, WAPDA chairman said that early completion of land acquisition and resettlement of the affectees are the priority areas in undertaking construction of Mohmand Dam.

Wapda Chairman in a recent briefing to Federal Minister for Water Resources, Faisal Vawda, said that the construction of Mohmand and Diamer-Bhasha dams will begin in first two quarters of the next year.

The total estimated cost of both the dams is around Rs883 billion.

The meeting was informed that the fund created by the chief justice of Pakistan, which was later joined by the prime minister, has registered a total donation of Rs 6.4 billion so far. While, Rs23.8bn for the Diamer-Bhasha dam and Rs2bn for the Mohmand dam had been allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme 2018-19.