Acquisition of extra land for Dadhocha Dam: Govt has provided Rs1.17bn, Punjab AAG tells SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed that Rs1,173 million has been provided by the Punjab government for acquisition of additional land for Dadhocha Dam.

A two-judge bench, headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, on Friday, heard the contempt of court petition against buying and selling of plots of Dadhocha Dam land.

The Court, in the last hearing, had directed the Punjab advocate general to file a comprehensive report about the construction of the dam and about its land.

Additional Advocate General (AAG) Punjab filed the report regarding acquiring additional land.

According to the report, due to various factors, including buying and selling of dam land and the litigation, the dam construction could not be started.

The report said any sort of construction at the site of the dam has been banned and the owners of the lands around the dam site were issued notices.

Site of Dadhocha dam: Notices issued to land developers

Petitioner Col (retired) Muhammad Tariq Kamal had informed the bench that though the construction of the dam is going, the Bahria Town and the DHA authorities are selling the dam's land.

Justice Sajjad directed the AAG to supply a copy of the report to the petitioner, adjourned the hearing for two weeks.

In 2019, the Punjab government had told the Supreme Court that it will complete the construction of the dam in 2021.

The government has allocated Rs2.8 billion to purchase the land for the dam.

The dam was proposed in 2001.

The dam project also concerns the 35 million gallons per day (MGD) water reservoir of the dam, for supplying water to the garrison city, since the older reservoir of Rawal Dam has completed its life span of 50 years.

The feasibility study for Dadhocha dam was approved during 2013-14, after which the irrigation department had hired consultants to move ahead with the project. In 2002, a pre-feasibility study of site No 1 was carried out by the Small Dams Organisation, which remained under active consideration for construction of the dam, the study stated, adding to secure the area required for the proposed project, a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 was also issued on November 3, 2010.

The area falls in the jurisdiction of three Tehsils of Rawalpindi district namely, Rawalpindi, Kahuta, and Kallar Syedan.

The two new water reservoirs over Ling River and Soan River were planned after realising the population explosion, for which the location of Dadhocha Dam over Ling River was technically evaluated and subsequently, recommended by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the petitioner said.

In August 2015, the Punjab government had declared the present site for the dam as technically and economically more feasible.

The consultant had suggested that a very narrow gorge and a natural bowl-shaped reservoir was present at the site, which was ideal for construction of the dam.

It was mentioned in the study that site No2 will have a storage capacity of 24,259 acres with 25 million gallons a day of water being supplied to the city.

The hydrology at the site is rated suitable for sustainable water supply.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021