ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: The consultants of Bhasha dam have submitted their draft report declaring the $3.75 billion project with power generation capacity of 3,660 MW as “technically and financially viable”.

Sources told Dawn here on Monday that with this positive draft report on Bhasha dam’s feasibility, the dam could be constructed before the controversial Kalabagh which required prior consensus of the four provinces.

The Wapda authorities have informed the federal government that the draft report is now being reviewed by Wapda and an international panel of experts.

However, they said, that the implementation of the Stage-II of the project could be started after final feasibility report of Stage-I had been received and approved by the competent authority by June 2004.

The federal government has been informed by Wapda that detailed engineering of the dam and its design could be finalized by December 2005 while the construction could be started by 2006 to eventually complete the project by 2013.

Regarding the salient features of the project, it was stated by Wapda that Bhasha dam could carry a storage capacity of around 7.3 MAF and power generation capacity of about 3,660 MW.

Wapda has informed the government that all disputes related to the project have been resolved and that logistics, access road and transmission system needs would now be looked into in detail.

In another development, Wapda was told that the country was in need of more multi-purpose projects which should include, in addition power generation, water storage capacity as well, instead of run-of-river power projects.

Wapda officials believed that by the time Bhasha dam was completed, the existing reservoir capacity at Mangla and Tarbela would grossly diminish.

In a recent meeting at the Planning Commission, Wapda officials said there was a potential site at Skardu which could produce about 2,500 MW electricity with storage capacity of more than the combined capacity of Tarbela, Mangla and Basha dam.