Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 pm Posted in News category
PM forms committee of ministers to initiate work on Diamer-Bhasha dam
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday terming Diamer-Bhasha dam a ‘landmark project’, directed the concerned departments to speed up efforts for its earliest initiation after developing consensus among all stakeholders. Chairing a high-level meeting on Diamer-Bhasha Dam at the PM House, the Prime Minister said his government attaches top priority to this project keeping in view its importance in overcoming country’s energy deficiency and to facilitate the government in water management.
The Prime Minister constituted a committee comprising Ministers for Water and Power, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, Information and Broadcasting, Labour and Manpower and Inter-Provincial Coordination as well as Deputy Chairman Planning Commission to resolve all impediments on fast-track basis to start work on the dam.
He stressed that all public representatives of Gilgit-Baltistan should be taken on board in order to develop a broader consensus on this project.
The Prime Minister decided to chair meetings on monthly basis to have a regular oversight of the project.
He was apprised that Diamer-Basha Dam would usher in a new era of socio-economic development of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan areas through massive investment while creating thousands of new employment opportunities for the local population thus helping in a big way to reduce poverty and backwardness of the areas.
The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction that this mega project would generate revenue energy of around US$ 4 million per day while annual energy, water and other economic benefits would be around US$ 2.190 billion.
The meeting was informed that Diamer-Bhasha Dam with a live storage capacity of 6.4 MAF would not only produce electricity to the capacity of 4500 MW but would also go a long way to realize the agricultural potential and also enhancing the life of Terbela reservoir by reducing siltation.
It would also contribute towards additional annual energy for Terbela and Ghazi Barotha to the tune of 1250 MW. The total construction cost of the project shall be US$11.17 billion.
The Prime Minister was briefed that main dam would be constructed at a height of 272 meters with roller compacted concrete. The main spillway shall have 14 gates and the gross capacity of reservoir shall be 8.1 MAF which is more than the Terbela reservoir which at present has a capacity of 7.86 MAF.
The power houses shall have 12 units generating 375 MW each totaling the capacity of 4500 MW and the average generation shall be 18000 Gwh/year. The project shall have cascading effect on the downstream future hydropower projects at Dasu, Pattan and Thakot.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Minister for Information & Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi, Chairman WAPDA Shakil Durrani and concerned senior officials.