Mohmand, May 2, 2019: Prime Minister Imran Khan here Thursday performed the groundbreaking of multi-faceted Mohmand Hydropower Dam project that will generate 800megawatt electricity besides water storage capacity of over 1.2million acres feet (MAF), which will directly benefit people of Charsadda, Mohmand and adjoining areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Pir Noorul Haq Qadari, Senator Faisal Javed and Member National Assembly, Sajid Khan besides PTI leaders and Wapda officials attended the ceremony.
Wapda Chairman Lt Gen (Retd) Muzamil Hussain and project director of the dam briefed the Prime Minister about salient features of the project.
On completion, the dam will generate estimated annual energy of about 2862GWh besides an active water storage reservoir of about 1.2MAF in addition to bringing about 17,000 acres barren land under cultivation directly.
Mohmand dam is being constructed on River Swat about 48 kilometres from Peshawar at the confluence of Mohmand and Charsadda district and the dam’s reservoir area extends upstream to Mohmand, Bajaur and other northern districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Moreover, the project will supply 13.32 million cubic meter water from Mohmand Dam reservoir to Peshawar City for drinking purposes.
The dam will also address the long-awaited problem of water scarcity in Mohmand district and will save Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera and other districts from floods in future.
This mega project is the initiative of the Federal Government, which carried the huge potential to meet Pakistan’s energy and water requirements in terms of electricity generation and irrigation besides provision of clean drinking water to inhabitants of Peshawar.
The project is scheduled to be completed in five years i.e. 2024 with an estimated cost of Rs183billion and on completion will store around 1.2 million acre-feet (MAF) of water and generate 800 Megawatts (MW) of hydel electricity.
It will alleviate poverty by providing job opportunities to thousands of people besides locals in the project area and its annual benefits are estimated at about Rs51.6 billion for the country.
Its construction will help national power policy achieve the dual goals of meeting Pakistan’s energy needs in a sustainable manner and ensuring generation of affordable electricity while helping to reduce existing energy’s demand and supply gap.
Construction of 213 meters high Mohmand Dam will alleviate the risk of flood damages to a great extent in future. The water reservoir would also control river flow and minimize the intensity of floods downstream, therefore, the reservoir would be a great source of flood’s protection and will save soil from fertile land from erosion.
Around 8675 acres land is being acquired for construction of requisite infrastructure at the dam site besides 56 kilometres long reservoir, irrigation network and re-regulation pond area.
