RAWALPINDI: Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has won the contract for Daducha Dam construction and the work would be started in next month.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that the provincial government had asked the district administration to start the construction work on the dam to meet the water shortage in the garrison city.

He said the land for Daducha Dam worth Rs6.429 billion had almost been acquired and the provincial government had released Rs1.5 billion in this regard.

He said the government had start Daducha and Chahan dam to end the water shortage, both for drinking and agriculture purposes, in the Potohar region.

He said water table in the Potohar region was decreasing fast and construction of dams was a dire need.

He said the district administration had imposed section 4 of Land Acquisition Act 1894. More than 1640 kanals of land had been acquired under which land acquisition in Kalar Syedan and Rawalpindi has been started.

The dam will be constructed on upstream of Soan River and all the rain water from Murree and Kahuta hills will gather in the lake at Daducha village near Sihala on Kahuta Road.

As many as 10 villages including seven of Rawalpindi and three of Kahuta will come under the dam. As many as 218 houses, seven industrial and commercial units and other areas will be affected by the project.

The total storage capacity of the dam would be 60,000 acre feet, dead level storage capacity is 15,000 acre feet while live storage capacity is 45,000 acre feet.

The water inflow to the dam is 77,000 cusecs while the outflow is estimated at 42,000 cusecs. The total cost of construction of the dam is estimated at Rs6 billion and the project will be completed in a period of three years.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) will construct a treatment plant along with its main line to provide drinking water to the city of Rawalpindi from Daducha Dam.

He said the initial work on Ring Road had been started. He said the work on Leh Expressway would also likely soon.

He said tourist site would also be constructed along these dams which would promote the local tourism in the area.

He said that tourism department had started the work for the development of the area along the dam site.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2020