LAHORE, Dec 8: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Consultation Mission, headed by Energy Division Director Rune Stroem, visited the Wapda House and held a meeting with Chairman Shakil Durrani and members of the authority to discuss matters relating to financing the Diamer-Bhasha dam project.

In his welcome remarks, Mr Durrani said the authority was implementing several projects to cope with the increasing demand of water and electricity in the country.

Among the projects, he said, the 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha dam was vital because this mega project would usher in accelerated socio-economic development in Pakistan.

He said Wapda looked forward to a close cooperation of international financial institutions, the ADB in particular, to implement the mega project. Experts from the USAID and project consultants were also present.

Mr Stroem, appreciating the progress made on the Diamer-Bhasha dam project, said the technical preparation of the project was quite impressive. Since it was a major project there were challenges as well and issues relating to resettlement of affectees and the environment needed further study with international consultants, he said.

“However, we hope to tackle these challenges in close coordination with each other,” he said.

During the briefing, the ADB mission has been informed that $12 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam is a multi-purpose project with the objectives to store water for irrigation, mitigate floods and generate low-cost and environment-friendly hydel electricity.

On completion, the project will store 8.1 million acre feet (MAF) of water and generate 4,500MW electricity. The project will add about 20 billion units of electricity annually to the national grid. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated at about $2.3 billion.

The mission has also been informed that a sum of Rs18 billion has been allocated in the PSDP for the project during the current fiscal year. At least 1,260 acres of land have so far been acquired for the construction of Wapda offices, contractor's camp, colonies and infrastructure in the project area. The delegation was also briefed about the resettlement and financial plans of the project.