Gomal Zam Dam: Spillway construction completed

Once completed, the dam will store 1.14 MAF of water, irrigate 0.16m acres of land.

MIRPUR:

WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) has completed construction of the main dam of Gomal Zam project in South Waziristan and water filling has started.

Talking to APP here Thursday, an official related to the project said that the project consists of three components including dam and spillway, power house and irrigation system, of which construction of the spillway has been completed, while that of the power house and irrigation system is underway. The source said that construction work on main lined canal, over 60 kilometres long, and 17 distributors, with total length of 204 km was also underway.

Gomal Zam Dam is the first-ever mega water project in Federally Administered Tribal Areas and is being undertaken with financial assistance of United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The dam aims to ensure availability of water for agriculture, controlling floods and providing low-cost hydel electricity, the source said, adding that the dam could store 1.14 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of water to irrigate 163,000 acres of land and benefits of the project on account of flood mitigation have been estimated around US $2.6 million annually. In addition, the project with a generation capacity of 17.4 megawatt, will also contribute 91 million units of electricity annually to the national grid.

USAID is providing $ 40 million to complete the remaining works of the project at a crucial juncture when paucity of funds might have halted the construction activities on the project, the sources added.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2011.