ISLAMABAD: Akhori Dam has the potential to mitigate the devastation of floods which Pakistan has faced in recent months.
According to latest estimates, Pakistan has suffered about $40 billion worth losses to economy, infrastructures, crops, livestock while more than 1500 people lost their lives.
Located in Attock district in Punjab, Akhori Dam project is a proposed multipurpose dam in Pakistan, about 60 km west of Islamabad.
Akhori Dam site is located near Akhori Village across Nandna Kas, a small tributary of Haro River in Attock District of Punjab. The estimated cost of construction of the dam is around $1.6 billion and its storage capacity will be 7.6 million acre feet (MAF).
Developed by Pakistani Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) as part of its Water Vision 2025, it has been proposed by the former Pakistan Muslim League’s Government.
Chairman of Sind Tas Water Council Engr. Suleman Khan said that the recent tormenting rains teamed the dams to their capacity, resultantly, the surplus water was released through spillways which added fuel to fire and intensified havoc through floods.
He said that more than 0.1 million cusecs of water was released on daily basis from Tarbela Dam when it got filled to its capacity. Had the Akhori Dam been built on time, the excess water of Tarbela Dam could have been absorbed in the Akhori Dam and the country could have not witnessed such a horrific destruction.
To stay safe from from catastrophic floods in the future, the government must build Akhori Dam.
The proposed Akhori dam will store about 7.6 million acres feet of surplus Indus River water that is spilled after filling Tarbela reservoir during the monsoon season.
The stored water will be released for mitigating irrigation shortages during the dry season. The project is quite simple and includes a gated intake structure, a 37-km long water conveyance channel, a reservoir, a hydropower station, a spillway, dams and ancillary works.
The reservoir, called Akhori reservoir, will be developed by constructing dams across a valley near Akhori village. The valley is situated between Attock and Fatehjang towns, on the left bank of the Haro River at an approximate distance of 60 kilometres west of Islamabad.
The intake structure will be designed for supplying the water from Tarbela to Akhori reservoir and it will be constructed on the southern periphery of Tarbela reservoir. The intake will function as an additional spillway of Tarbela that will release the water into the conveyance channel for delivering to and storing in Akhori reservoir.
FEASIBILITY STUDY of Akhori Dam
• PC-II approved for Rs. 194.804 million by CDWP through circulation in March 19, 2004.
• Final Feasibility Study Report, prepared by M/S Techno-Consult International, has been received on Jan. 26, 2006.
• Revised PC-II for feasibility study amounting to Rs. 286.857 million submitted to Planning Commission for approval on 16.8.2008.
• Planning Commission returned the Revised PC-II Proforma for feasibility study in August 2014 with the remarks “If approval of the subject PC-II is still required, the case may be submitted afresh along with source of funding”.
• WAPDA clarified in 2014 that the Project is already completed, hence no change in PC-II cost. Regarding source of funding it was intimated that Govt. of Pakistan has already provided its share of Rs. 100 million through PSDP, the balance will be financed by WAPDA. PC-II approval is required to regularize the already incurred expenditure and to clear the liabilities.
• MoW&P has cleared and forwarded the PC-II Proforma to Planning Commission on September 21, 2015 for approval.
• CDWP has approved the PC-II for Feasibility Study of Akhori Dam project on 08.02.2016.
DETAILED ENGINEERING DESIGN
• PC-II for Detailed Engineering Design and Tender Documents of the Project amounting to Rs. 818.00 Million submitted on June 23, 2006 for approval of ECNEC.
• PC-I (April, 2006) amounting to Rs. 67023 million for land acquisition and resettlement of Affectees under approval of ECNEC.
STAKEHOLDER’S CONSULTATIONS
• Feasibility Study was shared with provinces, comments received on Dec. 30, 2006 and responded on Jan.18, 2007.
• Presentation to Punjab held on May 14, 2007. WAPDA requested Govt. of Sindh on
April 28 & June 30, 2007 and Govt. of KPK on May 17, May 27 & June 30, 2007 to allocate time slot for presentation.
• Due to non allocation of time slot for presentation, a meeting was held on Dec. 01, 2007 under the chairmanship of Secretary MoW&P, it was decided that “The Ministry shall convene a meeting in Islamabad to discuss the observations of provinces on Feasibility Study of Akhori Dam Project as soon as possible”.
• MoW&P scheduled a meeting on April 30, 2009 under the chairmanship of Secretary to evolve consensus for the project but the meeting was cancelled.
• P&D Department, Govt. of Sindh communicated further comments vide letter dated 05.05.2009, annotated reply was submitted on 04.09.2009.
• WAPDA requested Govt. of Punjab on July 11, 2014 to evolve consensus among provinces on Project Feasibility.
• MoW&P desired information on July 02, 2015 on Water Availability and Environmental Impacts to satisfy provincial concerns. Report was submitted on July 16, 2015.
• WAPDA presented Akhori Dam Project to Secretary Irrigation, Govt. of Punjab on Sept. 16, 2015 and requested to develop consensus among Provinces so that work on the Project may be started at the earliest.
