LAHORE, Aug 18: Total area for the construction of Bhasha Dam has been identified and Wapda will ensure payment of land to the Northern Areas Council and partly to the NWFP government by end of this year.

Authority chairman Tariq Hamid told newsmen after inaugurating a triple-storey hostel for Wapda officers here on Friday that 2,000 families would be displaced for whom eight villages had been raised within a radius of five kilometres.

“The NAC and NWFP government are currently assessing the land value in their respective areas,” the chairman said in response to a question, adding that Wapda had enough money to make the payment.

He told another questioner that Wapda would complete the design and tender documents of the dam by the end of 2008.

Tariq Hamid said Wapda had set up hospitals at distribution companies (disco) level for its 147,000 employees.

About the new hostel, he said Wapda had its operations from Landi Kotal to Khuzdar and hence officers’ movement was indispensable. The hostel, he said, would facilitate them. It would also be utilised for holding Wapda’s main organisations’ bi-monthly meetings, he said.—APP