DIAMER-BHASHA DAM: Wapda hands over Rs1.78bn cheque to KP for land

ABBOTTABAD/MANSEHRA: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) on Friday handed over a cheque for Rs1.78 billion to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as compensation for land acquired for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Upper Kohistan.

Brigadier (r) Shoaib Taqi, general manager Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Human Resource Development of Diamer-Bhasha Dam, presented the cheque to deputy commissioner and district collector Upper Kohistan Tariq Ali Khan in the presence of DIG, Hazara range, Nasir Mehmood Satti.

An official communique said the deputy commissioner would disburse the amount among landowners as compensation after completing necessary procedures in line with GIS reports, revenue records and other relevant documentation.

The compensation pertains to land and properties acquired for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam in Harban-Bhasha, a tehsil of Upper Kohistan district.Meanwhile, a meeting chaired by DIG Hazara Nasir Mehmood Satti reviewed land acquisition matters and other issues related to the 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha hydropower project being constructed on the Indus River along the boundary between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The meeting was attended by Brig (r) Taqi, Tariq Ali Khan, Wapda’s Director-General Social Safeguard Tariq Mehmood, Director Coordination Diamer-Bhasha Project Rahim Shah, district administration officials, and local notables of Harban-Bhasha.

Representatives of the landowners thanked the DIG Hazara, the Deputy Commissioner, and Wapda for releasing the compensation amount. They also pledged their full support for the early completion of the 4,500MW Diamer-Basha Dam, which they said would help bridge the country’s energy shortfall and bring prosperity to both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.