ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has requested the Asian Development Bank for $300 million loan for the Kurram Tangi Integrated Water Resources Development project which aims to improve energy, water and food security in the country.

The ADB is expected to approve the loan in 2024, according to the project document released by the bank. The proposed project will directly contribute to the two strategic pillars of Pakistan’s National Poverty Reduction Strategy: “Increasing productivity and value addition in agriculture” and “Integrated Energy Development Programme”.

The project aims to construct a 95- metre-high dam with a water storage capacity of 1,480 million cubic metres (m3) on the Kurram river; construct three small hydroelectric powerhouses to generate 65MW of hydropower; irrigate 27,400 hectares of new command area; and improve irrigation water supply to the existing 155,444 hectares of command area.

The proposed interventions of the project will, therefore, significantly contribute to economic growth while improving agricultural productivity, energy and food security in the country.

The Kurram Tangi project will improve the irrigation infrastructure while constructing 500,000km long irrigation canals and water courses, which will directly contribute to improved agricultural productivity. It will improve the economic and social infrastructure while constructing and upgrading farm to market roads, schools, basic health units, and water supply.

Wapda prepared a feasibility study of the Kurram Tangi Project in 2004 to store and regulate the floodwater for subsequent uses for agriculture, hydropower, and ecosystems and reduced flood risks. Due to funding constraints, the project’s implementation was divided in two phases.

The first phase consists of construction of a diversion weir on the Kaitu River to irrigate 10,625 hectares and generate 19 megawatts of hydropower. Construction of the first phase started in 2016 with the government financing $72m and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) providing $81m. The project is expected to be completed next year.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2023