Govt sought for progress report of Diamer Bhasha, Mohmand dams

LAHORE: The federal government has been asked to produce details of progress on the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams by the Lahore High Court (LHC), ARY News reported on Thursday.

The high court issued the directives to the federal authorities while hearing a petition seeking publicisation of progress on Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams.

The hearing was conducted by LHC’s Justice Sajid Mehmood Sethi which ordered the federal government to provide complete details of acquired land and tenders for the construction of the dams.

Justice Sethi also asked the authorities to give particulars for allocation of funds to construct the dams.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing till December 11.

Diamer Bhasha dam

Diamer Bhasha dam is being constructed on Indus River near Chilas (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan), 315 kilometres from Tarbela Dam and about 40 km downstream of Chilas Town, according to Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA).

PC-I for Dam Part amounting to Rs474 billion was approved by Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on April 17 – 2018. Subsequently after inclusion of 15 MW Tangir HPP, the revised cost of PC-I amounting to Rs479.686 billion approved by ECNEC on November 14 – 2018, the authority said.

Mohmand Dam

Mohmand dam is being constructed on Swat River and it will be completed at a cost of over Rs183 bn by 2024. The dam has the capacity of storing 1.2 million acre-feet water. The project was scheduled to be completed in five years and eight months.

Mohmand dam on completion will generate 800-megawatt electricity besides bringing about 17,000 acres barren land under cultivation.

It will also solve the problem of water scarcity in Mohmand besides saving Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera districts from floods.

Earlier, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) on March 26 had awarded long-delayed contract for civil and electro-mechanical works of Mohmand Dam Project to a joint venture comprising the China Gezhouba Group of Companies (CGGC) of China as the lead firm and Descon engineering company of Pakistan as its partner.