– Says construction of 10 dams in Pakistan by 2028 to ensure food security
DM Monitoring
MOHMAND: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday visited the site of Mohmand Dam and reviewed the ongoing construction work. Chairman Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Lt Gen (retd) Muzammil Hussain briefed the prime minister on the progress of the project.
Imran Khan expressed satisfaction over the progress of the project which will ensure generation of clean and green electricity besides fulfilling the agricultural needs. The Mohmand Dam hydropower project is the first mega dam in five decades, the groundbreaking of which was performed by Prime Minister Imran Khan on May 2, 2019.
Mr. Khan said the construction of 10 dams and hydropower projects to be completed by 2028 besides generating cheaper electricity will also make country’s 8 million acres of land cultivable and ensure food security.
He regretted that despite having the large potential, no dams were constructed in Pakistan after the decade of 1960s or over the last 50 years. The Prime Minister said that contrary to China which had constructed 80,000 dams including 5000 big dams, Pakistan had only two big dams.
He said that ten dams including Bhasha and Dasu would be constructed under the vision of clean and green Pakistan and in view of the climate changes.
He said that with the growing population, the construction of dams and water reservoirs was a must to tackle the challenges of food security. Despite bumper wheat crop this year, the country will have to import the commodity to fulfill its demand, he remarked.
The Prime Minister further said that the construction of dams and water reservoirs was also important for meeting the demand of clean drinking water for major cities and urban centers like Lahore and Karachi.
He referred to the tankers mafia in Karachi, which was making billions of rupees, and said the construction of a lake at Ravi City Lahore was meant to provide clean water to the residents of area. The Prime Minister said that with the construction of Mohmand Dam, Peshawar would get 300 million gallons of water.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, in response to a question, said that the previous rulers instead of initiating dams and hydropower projects opted to take an easy path of signing expensive power generation contracts with Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and made money through commissions and kickbacks.
He regretted that instead of exploiting Pakistan’s hydropower potential of producing 50,000 megawatts of cheaper electricity, they went for expensive power generation agreements with IPPs, a major cause of circular debt.
The Prime Minister also mentioned the clause of capacity payment in agreements with IPPs, which bounded the governments for payment to the private power generation companies even if the electricity produced by them was used or not, as one of the major reasons behind the growing circular debt. He said the power sector circular debt, which was Rs. 480 billion in 2018, swelled to Rs. 900 billion at present and would reach Rs. 1455 billion in 2023. The Prime Minister, however, added that the present government was trying to renegotiate the agreements with IPPs.
To a question about tourism promotion, Imran Khan said that with the current third wave of COVID-19, the government besides measures to check the spread of coronavirus in the country has also been trying to keep the wheels of economy running and save the people from economic problems
The Prime Minister urged the masses to continue to follow COVID-19 SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) including the use of face masks to protect themselves from the deadly virus as well as country from economic effects. On the direction of the prime minister, the work on Mohmand Dam continued even during the pandemic to complete the project at fast pace.
The dam being constructed on Swat River will help in areas including flood protection, agriculture and crop needs, water security and environment-friendly electricity supply. The dam costing Rs 309.6 billion will be constructed 218 meters high with a storage capacity of 1.293 million acre feet water and will generate 800-megawatt electricity.
