Munda Dam to be constructed on priority basis

LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has decided to construct Munda Dam on Swat River on a priority basis.

Wapda, in its meeting held on Friday, gave the go-ahead to inviting Expressions of Interest (EOI) for consultancy services for a detailed engineering design and preparation of tender documents for the project.

The decision was made in the wake of recent floods that played havoc in the country, especially in Nowshera and Charsadda districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The dam project is proposed to be constructed on Swat River about five kilometres upstream of Munda head works in Mohmand Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

It is a multi-purpose project with the objectives to control floods, ensure availability of irrigation water and provide low-cost hydel electricity. Donor agencies as well as other financial institutions are ready to finance the project.

The project, on its completion, will store 1.29 million acre feet of water to irrigate more than 15,000 acres of land. In addition, the project will also generate 740 megawatts of hydropower, contributing 2,400 million units of cheap electricity to the national grid.

Most importantly, Munda Dam is very vital to save Nowshera and Charsadda from floods. The project will help store peak flood in Swat River. Hence, accumulation of peak flows of Swat and Kabul rivers at Nowshera and Charsadda could be avoided.

Apart from 969MW Neelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project on which work started in 2008 and 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha Dam, the 740MW Munda Dam is the biggest multi-purpose hydropower project.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2010.