ISLAMABAD, Sept 20: Wapda said on Thursday that the Mangla Dam raising project would extend the life of the Mangla reservoir.

A spokesman of Wapda said that sedimentation was a natural phenomenon, because of which every dam has a specific span of life. Precisely for this reason, he said, a provision for raising the dam by 45 feet had been kept in the original design.The dam is now being raised by 30 ft, which will enhance its storage capacity from 4.70 million acre feet to 7.60 million acre feet.

The additional storage of about 2.88 million acre feet will enhance the power generation capacity by 12 per cent. The annual financial benefits both in terms of agriculture produce and power generation would be over Rs12 billion, he added.