ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The work on raising the height of Mangla Dam by 40 feet is likely to begin in last week of the current month and President Gen Pervez Musharraf with perform its ground breaking, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

With the completion of the project at an estimated cost of Rs59 billion, the dam will generate 1,700 megawatts more of electricity and have enough water storage for the land in Punjab.

The president is expected to preside over a meeting on Sept 24 to give approval to the compensation and rehabilitation package prepared by various committees for the people of the area that will be affected by the project.

A meeting scheduled to be presided over by Information Minister Nisar A. Memon, in-charge of water and power ministry, scheduled for Wednesday was postponed due to late arrival of the minister in the capital, sources said.

The ground breaking was delayed repeatedly due to resistance by the government and people of Azad Kashmir.

The AJK Legislative Assembly last week passed a resolution calling upon the authorities to delay construction of the project till the election drama in held Kashmir was over.

However, the acting prime minister of AJK, Mumtaz Shah, announced that the state government had no objection to the start of the work.

The assembly formed a parliamentary committee on the instance of Opposition Leader Sultan Mehmud Chaudhry to advance its recommendations for submission to the government before a go ahead was given for the construction.

Sultan Mehmud demanded in a press conference that the work should not be started until recommendations of the committee arrived.

The committee met on Wednesday and formulated its recommendations. It was attended by Muslim Conference President Sardar Atiq Ahmed Khan, a minister Sardar Khalid Masood and representatives from the AJK opposition parties.

The committee recommended that the fisheries and tourism department relating to the dam should be handed over to the AJK government.

It recommended that the people displaced by the old and the new project be paid compensation of their lands according to the current market rates and effective steps be taken for their rehabilitation.

It also recommended construction of four bridges on the dam to enable transportation of the people who would be divided due to the construction of the project. Another recommendation was of construction of a double road connecting Jatli Satian with Sarai Alamgir.

The committee called for the implementation of the recommendations package prepared by a committee constituted by the president.