Daily Times

Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Lt Gen (R)Sajjad Ghani has said that his foremost priority is to complete under-construction WAPDA projects as per their schedules, in addition to initiating new projects to cope with increasing requirements of water and electricity in the country.

This was the crux of the chairman’s interaction during a week-long briefing sessions about under construction WAPDA projects including Mohmand Dam, Diamer Basha Dam and Dasu Hydropower Project. WAPDA Members Finance, Water and Power, Diamer Basha Dam Chief Executive Officer, General Managers and representatives of the consultants and contractors of the projects’ attended these briefings.

Underlining the significance of on-going projects, the chairman said that completion of as many as 10 WAPDA projects is linked with economic stability and social uplift of Pakistan, as these projects would add 11.7 million acre feet (MAF) of gross water storage and 11300 megawatts of low-cost, clean and green hydel electricity to the National Grid.

“These projects are scheduled to be completed from 2022 to 2029 in a phased manner, hence, their on-time completion is a huge challenge; but there lies an opportunity in these challenges as well. We can avail the opportunity to lift WAPDA’s stature at national as well as international level,” he added.

Urging the projects’ management, the Chairman said that the task of scheduled completion of WAPDA projects can be achieved with a coherent team work, for which, every employee will have to play his or her due role with utmost dedication.

During the week-long briefings sessions, the Chairman had separate briefings on the mega projects including Mohmand Dam, Diamer Basha Dam and Dasu Hydropower Project. The Chairman was briefed of the targets versus achievements on the projects. He emphasized upon the projects’ management to adopt a forthcoming approach for removing the bottlenecks in the way to smooth implementation of the projects. The matters relating to land acquisition, confidence building measures in the projects’ areas, logistics and security were also discussed in details during the briefings.