Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa and former chief justice Saqib Nisar on Thursday (today) will perform the ground-breaking of the much-awaited Mohmand Dam at the project site on Swat River, about five kilometers upstream of Munda Headworks in Mohmand district.
In this regard, all essential measures have been finalised, and the security in the entire region has been put on high alert. Other senior government officials will also be present in the ceremony.
The project will be completed at the cost of about Rs309.558 billion by the year 2024.
The dam will have a gross storage capacity of 1.293 million acre feet (MAF) water with power generation potential of 800-megawatts and the annual energy production of 2,862 GWh.
Besides, it will irrigate around 16,737 acres of land and ensure supply of water to 160,000 acres of land.
The residents of Peshawar will get 300 million gallons of potable water, whereas issue of water scarcity in Mohmand district would be resolved.
Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs52 billion. The project aims at helping mitigate risk of floods in Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and Mardan.
Later, the premier is scheduled to visit Tirah Valley in Khyber District.
Earlier in March, the WAPDA had awarded the contract for civil and electro-mechanical construction works at the Mohmand Dam Project to a joint venture between China Gezhouba Group of Companies (CGGC) and Descon Pakistan.
“Wapda has successfully realigned the project after a delay of decades, removing the legal, financial and technical snags.
However, the project will phenomenally contribute towards water, food and energy security of Pakistan,” the WAPDA Chairman (rtd) Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain had said, while speaking to the ceremony held to announce the project.
“We are committed to completing the project as early as possible to cope with the ever increasing needs of water and electricity in the country,” the chairman had stated.
He had added that the construction of the Mohmand Dam would go a long way in stabilising the national economy besides alleviating poverty and ushering in an era of development for the area surrounding the project.
