Gillani for quicker construction of Diamir – Bhasha Dam
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to speed up work on the $11.17 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam to overcome the energy and water crisis faced by the country.
A meeting held here on Wednesday with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair discussed at length measures needed to address reservations of various groups in Gilgit-Baltistan about the project which would produce 4,500 megawatts of electricity.
Terming the dam a major project, the prime minister ordered the departments concerned to speed up efforts for developing consensus so that work on dam could be started soon.
A committee comprising the ministers of water and power, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, information and broadcasting, labour and manpower and inter-provincial coordination and the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission was constituted to resolve differences expeditiously.
The prime minister will hold monthly meetings on the issue.
The meeting was informed that the main dam would be constructed at a height of 272 metres with 14 main spillway gates and the gross capacity of its reservoir would be more than that of Tarbela.
It will have 12 units generating 375MW each. The total production will be 4,500MW, with average annual generation of 18,000Gwh. The project will have a cascading effect on future downstream hydropower projects at Dasu, Pattan and Thakot. [DAWN]
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