WAPDA Connects Two Portions Of Diversion Tunnel At Mohmand Dam

Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has achieved another milestone toward completion of river diversion system of Mohmand Dam Project by connecting two portions of Diversion Tunnel 2 with precision

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has achieved another milestone toward completion of river diversion system of Mohmand Dam Project by connecting two portions of Diversion Tunnel 2 with precision.

According to a press release issued here Monday, the project management achieved this milestone during the mining operation at the diversion system by breaking through two portions of Diversion Tunnel 2, one from the access tunnel side with the other from outlet portal.

WAPDA Chairman Lt. Gen (Retd) Muzammil Hussain, General Manager of Mohmand Project Javed Afridi, representatives of the consultants, Mohmand Dam Consulting Group and the contractors, China Gezhouba Group Corporation witnessed the event.

While congratulating the project management, the consultants and contractors on breakthrough of the two portions of the tunnel, the WAPDA chairman said it was a good omen for the project to achieve this milestone on Mohmand Dam at a time when the whole world was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also thanked the Federal government, Water Resources Ministry in particular, for their support in implementation of the project.

He expressed the hope that the project like Mohmand Dam were vital to thwart looming water crisis and meet energy requirements of the country with affordable and clean hydel electricity.

Earlier, Mohmand Dam General Manager & Project Director briefed the WAPDA chairman about the overall progress on the project.

It was told during the briefing that construction work on as many as 10 sties was simultaneously underway on the project with a good pace.

These sites included diversion tunnel, power intake, and power waterway, spillway, re-regulation pond, excavation on switchyard, power house and main dam abutment, access roads and project colony.

It is worth mentioning here that Mohmad Dam is being constructed on River Swat in District Mohmand of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

It is the 5th highest concrete-face-rock fill Dam (CFRD) in the world. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2025 and will store about 1.2 million acre feet (MAC) of water and help mitigate floods in Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera.

Besides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, about 18,237 acres of new land will also be irrigated.

Mohmand Dam Power House will generate 800 megawatt hydel electricity, contributing 2.86 billion units of low cost and environment friendly hydle electricity annually to the National Grid.

In addition, 300 million gallons water per day will also be provided to Peshawar for drinking purpose while annual benefits of the project have been estimated as Rs 51.6 billion.