Water projects: MPs apprised of plans to resolve energy woes

Work is under way on several dams to store and harvest rain and flood waters, says Water and Power Minister.

ISLAMABAD:

Water and Power Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Saturday told the National Assembly that the government would be in a position to control floods in the days ahead as work was under way on several dams to store and harvest rain and flood waters.

In his written reply to the lower house, the minister stated that the Mangla Dam raising power project in Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, will have a storage capacity of 2.88 million acre feet (MAF), and that the main dam, spillway and its allied works had been substantially completed in 2009. The reply further stated that resettlement work was under way and physical progress was 98.5 per cent.

The minister stated that a test operation of the Gomal Zam Dam Project was performed on June 24, 2013 and that the project will be completed by December 2013, adding that the dam and its powerhouse had already been completed.

The reply further stated that Nai Gaj Dam being built near Dadu will be complete by June 2015.

“The major hindrance in the initiation/completion of dams is financial constraint and the prevailing security situation in the area,” Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated in his written reply, adding that flood management and mitigations were being dealt by the Federal Flood Commission (FFC).

Asif also informed the house that solar power is now being considered as one of the mainstream methods of generating electricity and that projects that will generate around 185 megawatts were in the pipeline.

He added that land is being offered to solar power projects in Cholistan at relatively cheaper rates and that around 16 wind energy projects with a generation capacity of 1,180MW will achieve their financial close by 2013-14.

Among other initiatives, the minister said that the sugar industry has been persuaded to put up power plants on bagasse and sell electricity exceeding their requirement to the national grid.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2013.