Project team urged to start work on Mohmand Dam

WAPDA chief calls for completing diversion of Swat River this year

LAHORE:

Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Engineer Lt Gen (Retired) Sajjad Ghani has urged project management to complete work on diversion of Swat River in the current year.

“It is essential to commence work on the main dam,” he stressed and directed the Wapda project team, consultants and contractors to execute the construction plan within the given timeline.

Ghani expressed those views during his visit to the Mohmand Dam and Hydropower Project, being developed by Wapda on Swat River, upstream of Munda head works in Mohmand district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

He visited a number of sites to examine the ongoing construction activities and was given a presentation by the project management on the progress made so far.

It said that construction activities on 14 key sites of various components were being carried out simultaneously, including a diversion system, dam spillway, re-regulation pond, switchyard, etc.

Work on concrete lining in the diversion tunnels was progressing at a fast pace to achieve the target of river diversion. Excavation work on left and right abutments of the dam was complete, while strengthening of the foundations of the two abutments was in progress.

Excavation work on the spillway was 80% complete and concrete lining was being done on the portions that had been excavated. Earthwork of the switchyard had been completed, said the presentation.

Mohmand Dam is a concrete-faced, rock-filled (CFR) dam, which is the fifth highest dam of its type in the world. It is a multi-purpose project and is scheduled for completion in 2026-27.

On completion, it will store 1.2 million acre feet (MAF) of water and help mitigate floods in Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera.

Besides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, it will also irrigate 18,237 acres of new land in Mohmand and Charsadda.

Its installed power generation capacity is 800 megawatts, which will contribute 2.86 billion units of low-cost and environment-friendly hydel electricity per annum to the national grid.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 23^rd, 2023.

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