Dasu Dam

There had been much talk about construction of dams on River Indus to meet water and power shortages, but unfortunately no concrete steps beyond rhetoric were ever taken. General Musharaf launched the Diamer-Basha Dam project and land acquisition proceedings were started. However, his successors shelved the project. In 2014 with financial assistance from the World Bank, the Dasu Dam project was launched by Wapda. According to PC-1, the first phase was to be completed by 2023, but it is not likely to be finished before 2025 because of the failure of government to acquire land.

Approximately 10000 acres of land in district upper Kohistan was required for the purpose, but the process has not been completed. This project is of immense importance because it will provide 22 billion units of cheap electricity to the national grid. Any delay in land acquisition may cause a huge loss in respect of escalation of cost to be claimed by the contractors. The PTI government needs to ensure early completion of the project, which will be beneficial for consumers in the form of cheap supply of electricity.

Raja Shafaatullah

Islamabad