PESHAWAR, Aug 29: The Small Dams Organization (SDO), established with the objective of combating drought in the water-deficient areas of the NWFP, has completed construction of Azakhel small dam in Peshawar.
The dam, located at Azakhel Khawar near Mattani, 35 kilometre southeast of Peshawar, will irrigate 3,300 acres of land and provide drinking water facility to 1,320 families of the area, informed Engineer Raqeeb Khan, Director-General of the SDO.
Work on the dam was started in June 2003 and completed before its stipulated period of 18 months at a cost of Rs43 million, the DG added. The inauguration of the dam, he continued, would soon be performed as it was filled from rain water.
The dam, he said, had a water storage capacity of 3,500 acre feet and its annual discharge would be 14,000 acre feet. About the activities of the SDO, Raqeeb Khan said it had constructed three small dams in the province in one-and-a-half year.
Apart from completing work on three dams, the department had also completed feasibility of six dams at different locations in the province and prepared pre-feasibility of 17 small dams, he added
Similarly, he said, work on four dams under DERA (Drought Emergency Relief Assistance Programme) were near completion. The dams under DERA were Naryab Dam in Hangu, Sharki dam in Karak, Chalghoz dam in Karak and Auxiliary Kandar dam in Kohat.
These four dams after completion would irrigate about 12,500 acres land in areas where people mostly depended on rain for irrigation. The SDO, he said, had also offered to the government of Japan to construct three dams in the NWFP through grant-in-aid.
These dams were Palai dam in Charsadda, Sanam dam in Lower Dir and Kundal dam in Swabi. About the background of the SDO, Mr Khan said due to drought in the recent past, the necessity for the conservation of rain and flood water was considered by the government as the only solution to combat water scarcity.
For providing water for irrigation, portable drinking water and recharge of the ground water aquifer, it was decided to create an independent small dams organization for carrying out planning, design and construction of small dams, he added. The SDO was established on January 1, 2003.
The benefits of small dams, the DG said, was that the people in water scarce areas would get water for irrigation and drinking purposes. Similarly, he added, fisheries would also develop in these areas besides mitigation of losses caused by flood water. -APP
