The Small Dams Organisation (SDO), established with the objective of combating drought conditions in water scarcity areas of NWFP, has completed construction of Azakhel small dam in Peshawar.
The dam, located at Azakhel Khwar, near Matanni, 35 km south-east of Peshawar city, will irrigate 3300 acres land and provide drinking water facility to 1320 families of the area, said Engineer Raqeeb Khan, Director-General, SDO.
Work on the dam was started in June 2003 and completed before its stipulated period of 18 months at a cost of Rs 43 million, the DG said.
The dam, he said, is zone-earth filled delay-action dam which would recharge the ground water level in the area.
The inauguration of the dam, he said, will soon be performed as it is to be filled from rain water.
The dam, he said, has water storage capacity of 3500 acre-feet and its annual discharge would be 14,000 acre-feet.
The benefit of cost ratio of the dam, he said, is 3.29:1 and its EIRP is 39 percent.
About the activities of SDO, Raqeeb said it has constructed three small dams in the province within a period of one-and-a-half years.
Apart from completing work on the three dams, the organisation has also completed feasibility of six dams at different locations in the province and prepared pre-feasibility of 17 small dams, he added.
Similarly, he said, work on four dams under Dera (Drought Emergency Relief Assistance) programme is in progress and nearing completion.
The dams under Dera are Naryab dam in Hangu, Sharki dam in Karak, Chalghoz dam in Karak and Auxilary Kandar dam in Kohat.
These four dams after completion would irrigate about 12500 acres land in areas where people mostly depend on rain for irrigation purpose.
The SDO, he said, has also offered to the Government of Japan to construct three dams in NWFP through grant-in-aid. These dams include Palai dam in Charsadda, Sanam dam in Lower Dir and Kundal dam in Swabi.
About the background of SDO, Raqeeb said that due to drought in the recent past, the necessity for conservation of rain and flood water was considered by the government as the only solution to combat water scarcity. For providing water for irrigation, potable drinking water and recharging the ground water aquifer, it was decided to create an independent 'small dams organisation' for carrying out planning, design and construction of small dams, he said. The SDO was established on January 1, 2003.
The benefits of small dams, the DG said, is that people of water scarce areas would get water for irrigation and drinking purposes.
Similarly, he added, fisheries would also be developed in these areas besides mitigation of losses caused by flood water.
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