Mohmand Dam to meet energy, water requirements

F.P. Report

GHALANAI: The mega multipurpose hydropower project Mohmand Dam, an initiative of the Federal Government, carries huge potential to meet Pakistan’s energy and water requirements in terms of electricity generation and irrigation besides provision of clean drinking water facilities to the inhabitants of Peshawar.

Mohmand dam will be constructed on River Swat about 48 kilometers from Peshawar in Mohmand tribal district and the dam’s reservoir area extends upstream to Mohmand and Bajaur districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “The dam will generate about 800 megawatt electricity besides storage reservoir of about 1594million cubic meter water,” officials’ sources in Wapda here told media on Thursday.

Its construction will help national power policy achieve the dual goals of meeting Pakistan’s energy needs in a sustainable manner and ensuring generation of affordable electricity, while helping to reduce existing energy’s supply gap. “Construction of 213 meter high Mohmand dam will alleviate risk of such flood damages to great extend in future. The reservoir would also store river flows and minimize intensity of floods downstream, therefore, the reservoir would be a great source of flood’s protection and will save soil from fertile land from erosion,” he said.

Thousands of acres of land especially in northern districts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa including Charssadda and Mohmand tribal districts will be irrigated after construction of the dam besides give enormous boost to agriculture, horticulture, floriculture and others key sectors in the province. The project will lead to enhance the agricultural capacity and production at downstream through raising two canals at Charsadda district.

Moreover, the project will supply 13.32 million cubic meter water from Mohmand dam Reservoir to Peshawar city. PC-I of Mohmand dam hydropower project amounting to Rs. 309.556billion including land acquisition and resettlement, was approval by ECNEC and ground breaking of the dam will soon be inaugurated.

The project is scheduled to be completed in five years and eight months and on completion will store about 1.2 million acre feet (MAF) of water and generate 800 megawatts (MW) of low-cost hydel electricity. It will alleviate poverty by providing job opportunities to thousands of people and labourers besides locals in the project area and its annual benefits are estimated about Rs 51.6 billion.

Asked about land acquisition and resettlement, the official said a total of 8675 acres land would be acquired for construction of requisite infrastructure at the dam site besides 56 kilometers long reservoir, irrigation network and re-regulation pond area. Wapda has signed a formal agreement with tribal elders for acquiring land for the dam projects under the supervision of district administration. The agreement pertaining to rates for acquiring land has also been endorsed by the Sub Committee on Lan Acquisition and Resettlement of Mohmand Dam Project formed under the Implementation Committee on Dams.