PM inaugurates construction of Rs309b Mohmand Dam on Jan 2

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan is inaugurating construction of Mohmand Dam on January 2. The mega project be completed with sum of Rs309 billion.

Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda while addressing a press conference on December 19 had announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate Mohmand Dam in January. Vawda said that almost six-decade old project would now be materialised with the collective efforts of the PTI government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar Chief, who will be invited as chief guests to the inauguration ceremony.

A well-placed source in Ministry of Water Resources informed the correspondent that the final stage of the project is about to start. The bidding process has already been completed and two companies have applied for the construction of Mohmand Dam.

“A Chinese company China Gezhouba and Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) have applied for the project and submitted their bids which will be opened in a few weeks. China Gezhouba will have a joint venture with Pakistani company Descon. Whereas FWO will have a joint venture with Power China if awarded the contract,” the sources said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Advisor to PM on Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood is the founder of Descon Engineering.

The source said that first two phases of Mohmand Dam project are completed. Feasibility report and detailing design of the project have already been finalised. Whereas, the previous government had allocated Rs2 -3 billion for the land acquisition but due to security situation in the area the land could not be acquired in past, the source said.

The site for Mohmand Dam project was identified back in 1963 by Wapda. However, the actual work for constructing the dam initiated in 2000 when a Japanese company surveyed the construction site and submitted its feasibility report. But the project was shelved. Later in 2012, the PPP government gave go-ahead of this project and four consultant companies including Nespak, ACE, SMEC and BAK worked on the detailing design of the project. But due to some technical reasons it was stopped, the source said.

“Due to 2010 torrential floods, the designing of the dam was changed twice and in 2014, a European consultancy Firm gave approval of the final design flood after which the project was initiated. The previous government had approved Rs309 billion PC-I. The previous government had allocated Rs2 billion for preliminary works. So far Rs700 million have already been spent on investigations, seismic surveys, drilling in river, mapping and salaries of the staff attached with this project,” the source said.

According to the source, the project will be completed in 5 years and eight months with a total cost of Rs309 billion. The deputy commissioner of the area has already finalised the terms and conditions of land acquisition with the locals. It will require around 8,000 acres land for the dam site.

When asked what was land price in the area, the source said since Mohmand Agency is situated in Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata) and there are no government land. Therefore, entire land for the Dam will be acquired from the locals at the rate of Rs200,000 to Rs250,000 per Kanal. To a question about funding for the Mohmand Dam, the source said that the government has decided not to approach any international financial institution for the funding of Mohmand Dam. The funding for this dam will be generated through the government’s funds, Wapda’s equity funds and local commercial bank’s loans.

Talking about the reasons of delay in this project, the source said that an American company was given the project of Mohmand Dam on build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) basis. However, Wapda expressed concerns on some technical issues and the project was cancelled.