GILGIT: Water Minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has underlined the significance of the Diamer-Bhasha dam, insisting that it was a vital project for the national economy that would store water to irrigate millions of acres, help mitigate floods and generate environment-friendly and low-cost electricity.

The federal minister expressed these views during a visit to the dam’s construction site on the Indus river downstream of Chilas city in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The concreted-filled gravity dam — being developed by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) — is in the preliminary stages of construction and is scheduled to complete in 2029. Mr Shah was informed that construction work was currently going on at 10 sites, including the excavation of dam abutments from the top, diversion tunnel, diversion canal, power intake, permanent access bridge and access roads.

Once complete, the Diamer-Bhasha dam is expected to store 8.1 million acre-feet of water, sufficient to irrigate 1.23 million acres of land.

It will also have an installed power generation capacity of 4,500 megawatts and thus add 18 billion units to the national grid a year.

During the visit, the minister reviewed excavation at the right abutment of the dam and construction work on the diversion system and a permanent bridge.

He was accompanied by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Water Resources Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Federal Secretary Water Resources Hasan Nasir Jamy and Wapda Chairman Sajjad Ghani.

Later, Mr Shah also inaugurated the 3MW Thak hydropower project that can power 1,500 to 1,800 households in Chilas.

This Rs1.3 billion project has been built by Wapda as part of a “confidence-building measure”. An independent, 26-kilometre-long transmission line has also been laid at the cost of Rs469 million to transport electricity from the power station to the Harpan Das model village in Chilas.

Addressing the local elders, Water Minister Shah said the federal government was committed to the socio-economic uplift of the area’s people.

He said Rs78.5bn was being spent on resettling affected people and improving health, education and infrastructure. He assured that jobs created in the Diamer-Bhasha dam project would first go to the locals.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2022