Diamer-Bhasha affectees provided mobile health unit

Unit will serve as a facility for people residing in difficult-to-reach areas.

LAHORE: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has provided a state-of-the-art mobile health unit to affectees of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam Project. The unit will serve as an expanded medical facility to people residing in difficult-to-reach areas adjacent to the project.

The mobile health unit, comprising a four wheel drive ambulance and all necessary medical instruments, was handed over by Wapda Chairman Shakil Durrani to project authorities here at Wapda House today.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chairman said the mobile health unit, in addition to existing health facilities in the area, will prove instrumental in the treatment of ailing individuals in the Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Besides providing civic amenities to affectees of the project under a compensation package chalked out in accordance with standards laid down by international donors and financial institutions, Wapda will also upgrade District Headquarters Hospitals at Chilas, Gilgat and Skardu, he added. The chairman expressed satisfaction over the setting up of Wapda medical camps in the project area.

The Diamer-Bhasha Dam Project was formally initiated by the Prime Minister in October last year after the Council of Common Interest unanimously approved the project. For the $12 billion project, the land acquisition process is in progress; while 13 contracts for construction of Wapda offices, colonies, contractors’ camps, roads and infrastructure in the project area have already been awarded.

The Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a multi-purpose project which aims to store water for irrigation, mitigate flooding and generate low-cost environment-friendly hydel power. On completion, the project will store 8.1 million acre feet of water, besides generating 4500 megawatts of electricity. The project will add about 20 billion units of electricity annually to the national grid. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at about $2.3 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2012.