- Upon completion, the project will store about 1.2m acre-feet of water, generate 800MW of low-cost hydel electricity and help mitigating floods in KP
LAHORE: Following the World Water Day which was celebrated last week, Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has taken a giant leap forward for development of precious water resources in the country by awarding the delayed-for-decade contract for civil and electro-mechanical works of Mohmand Dam Project to a joint venture (JV), comprising the China Gezhouba Group of Companies (CGGC) of China as the lead firm and Descon of Pakistan as its partner.
The final contract is worth Rs183.523 billion, saving Rs18 billion from the approved PC-I.
The contract agreement signing ceremony was held on Tuesday at the WAPDA House, wherein the representatives of WAPDA and CGGC-DESCON JV signed the contract agreement on behalf of their organizations.
WAPDA Chairman Lt Gen (r) Muzammil Hussain, senior officers, project authorities and high ups of CGGC and Descon were also present on the occasion.
It is worth mentioning that WAPDA has been able to successfully realign Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project after a prolonged delay, removing the legal, financial and technical snags.
Addressing the contract signing ceremony, WAPDA Chairman said that Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project will phenomenally contribute towards water, food and energy security of Pakistan.
He said that WAPDA is committed to completing the project as early as possible to cope with the ever-increasing needs of water and electricity in the country. He expressed hope that Mohmand Dam would go a long way in stabilizing the national economy besides alleviating poverty and ushering in an era of development in the project area.
Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project is historic and unique in nature being constructed on River Swat in tribal district Mohmand of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project is scheduled to be completed in five years and eight months. On completion, the project would store about 1.2 million acre-feet (MAF) of water, generate 800 megawatts (MW) of low-cost hydel electricity and help mitigating floods in Peshawar, Charsadda and Naushera.
Besides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, about 16,700 acres of new land would also be irrigated because of Mohmand Dam. In addition, 300 million gallon water per day will also be provided to Peshawar for drinking purpose. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at Rs51.6 billion.
