Munda Dam to be constructed on priority basis

Wapda has decided to construct Munda Dam on Swat River on a priority basis.


Express September 04, 2010

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 4th, 2010.

COMMENTS (3)

faisal shaji | 13 years ago | Reply The solution of Wapda is to divide it and privatise different strategic business units.....even government could be a stakeholder .......
Asim Kaleem | 13 years ago | Reply Wapda's priority means another 5 year ........... so not much hopes .......
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ