Darawat Dam receives fund injection
Govt releases Rs360m for accelerating work on the project.
LAHORE:
The federal government has released Rs360 million for the under-construction Darawat Dam in Thatta and Jamshoro Districts, raising hopes that work on the project will pick up pace and will be completed on time.
“Funds have been released on instructions issued by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. The project’s main dam is likely to be completed by December this year, while the irrigation system will be put in place by June 2013,” said a spokesperson for the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in a statement on Tuesday.
The government had already announced that it will provide up to 25 acres of land to each of the poor women from the project area, the spokesperson said. Darawat Dam, being constructed across Nai Baran River some 70 kms west of Hyderabad, is part of Wapda’s programme for construction of small and medium-sized dams in addition to mega water and power projects.
The government has asked Wapda to construct small and medium-sized dams in the four provinces and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) for socio-economic development in remote areas. The projects are being taken up in areas which cannot be irrigated through the Indus Basin irrigation system in an attempt to optimally utilise water and land resources in the country.
Darawat Dam will help store water for irrigation, mitigate floods, provide employment opportunities and improve the lot of women. The concrete-faced rock-filled dam will be 820 feet long and 141 feet high, which will store about 120,000 acre feet of water to irrigate 25,000 acres of land and will create 4,500 jobs during construction, operation and maintenance.
Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at more than Rs1 billion. Life of the water reservoir will be more than 100 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.
The federal government has released Rs360 million for the under-construction Darawat Dam in Thatta and Jamshoro Districts, raising hopes that work on the project will pick up pace and will be completed on time.
“Funds have been released on instructions issued by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. The project’s main dam is likely to be completed by December this year, while the irrigation system will be put in place by June 2013,” said a spokesperson for the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in a statement on Tuesday.
The government had already announced that it will provide up to 25 acres of land to each of the poor women from the project area, the spokesperson said. Darawat Dam, being constructed across Nai Baran River some 70 kms west of Hyderabad, is part of Wapda’s programme for construction of small and medium-sized dams in addition to mega water and power projects.
The government has asked Wapda to construct small and medium-sized dams in the four provinces and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) for socio-economic development in remote areas. The projects are being taken up in areas which cannot be irrigated through the Indus Basin irrigation system in an attempt to optimally utilise water and land resources in the country.
Darawat Dam will help store water for irrigation, mitigate floods, provide employment opportunities and improve the lot of women. The concrete-faced rock-filled dam will be 820 feet long and 141 feet high, which will store about 120,000 acre feet of water to irrigate 25,000 acres of land and will create 4,500 jobs during construction, operation and maintenance.
Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at more than Rs1 billion. Life of the water reservoir will be more than 100 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2012.