The Need for ;

Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam

Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan today is among one of the World’s fastest growing population, now estimated as over 220 million. Due to lack of large river regulation capability through sizeable storages, the country is already facing serious shortages in food grains. Given the present trend,

Project Benefits

Availability of about 6,400,000 acre feet (7.89×109 m3) annual surface face water storage for supplementing irrigation supplies during low flow periods

Harnessing of renewable source of clean and cheap energy through installed capacity of 4500 MW

Reduction of dependence on thermal power, thus saving foreign exchange

Employment opportunity, particularly to the locals, during the construction and operation

Creation of massive infrastructure leading to overall socio-economic uplift of the area and standard of living of people.

Salient Features

The Dam will be located on the River Indus in Northern Pakistan, about 315 km upstream of Tarbela Dam, 165 km downstream of the Northern Areas capital of Gilgit and 40 km downstream of Chilas.

MAIN DAM Maximum Height: 270 m Type Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC)

DIVERSION SYSTEM 2 No. Diversion tunnels 1 No. Diversion canal Upstream and Downstream Cofferdams

MAIN SPILLWAY No. of gates 9 Size of gate 16.5 ? 15.0 m

RESERVOIR LEVEL 1160 m Gross capacity 7,300,000 acre feet (9.00×109 m3) Live capacity 6,400,000 acre feet (7.89×109 m3) Min. operation level El. 1060 m

OUTLETS Intermediate level 8 Low level 4

POWERHOUSE(S) 2 Total installed capacity 4500 MW Location and type Toe of the Dam (one each on the right and left side) No. of units 8, each of 560 MW Average generation 16,500 Gwh/year

Project details

Construction works on Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams with a combined electricity generation capacity of almost 5,500 megawatts and that can store more than nine million acres feet will begin this year, a senior official said on Monday.

Muzammil Hussain, chairman of Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) said construction works on Diamer Basha and Mohmand dams will be started during the current fiscal year of 2018/19.

Diamer Basha dam project has a gross water storage capacity of 8.1 million acre feet (MAF) and power generation capacity of 4,500 megawatts. Likewise, Mohmand dam hydropower project will store 1.2 MAF water and generate 800MW electricity.

Diamer Basha dam, which will be the largest water reservoir in the country, was envisaged more than a decade ago and its ground-breaking was performed in 2006. Share of hydro power in energy mix has been consistently declining for the last couple of years as no new large dam was constructed after Tarbela dam.

Hydropower adds a little over 100 megawatts to grid compared with the country’s electricity generation capacity that exceeded 29,000MW. Wapda’s chief Hussain was briefing caretaker Prime Minister Justice (retired) Nasir-ul-Mulk about the issues of water and hydropower sectors in the country.

Fundraising so far...

Recently, the supreme court of Pakistan decided to establish ‘Diamer Basha and Mohmand Dam Fund – 2018’ for the purpose of raising finances for construction of the dams in the country. “The fund shall receive donations / contributions, both from domestic and international donors, for which purpose an account with the name of Diamer Basha and Mohmand Dam Fund – 2018 has been established at all the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation (bank), all branches of National Bank of Pakistan and all scheduled commercial banks and microfinance banks,” the central bank said in a statement last week.

“Donations and contribution to the funds can be made in the form of cash, cheque, prize bonds and other cash equivalents hereto.

The Wapda’s meeting was told that the 1,410 MW- Tarbela 5th extension, the 2,160MW-stage II of Dasu, the 7,100MW-Bunji and the stage-II of multipurpose Kurram Tangi dam are among the ready-for-construction projects.