The total land required for the construction of Diamer-Basha Dam has been identified and now acquisition of land was being made for which sufficient funds have been provided by the federal government to Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda).
Wapda Chairman Tariq Hamid disclosed this while talking to newsmen after inaugurating Wapda Single Officers Hostel, here on Friday. General Manager (Administration), Brigadier Najam-us-Saqib, Member (Water) Wapda, Muhammad Mushtaq Chaudhry and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.
Tariq maintained that the detailed engineering design of the dam would be completed by 2008 as per schedule and the number of persons affected by the construction of the dam was negligible as compared to Tarbela and Mangla dams.
Giving further details of the resettlement plan, he said that nearly 2000 families would only be displaced during the construction of the Diamer-Basha Dam and the resettlement had been planned in a manner that every family was settled within the radius of 5-km of its present location.
He averred that a sum of Rs 10 billion had been allocated in the present budget for acquisition of land for the construction of mega water projects announced by President Pervez Musharraf. He hoped that implementation of Diamer-Basha Dam project would be made according to schedule.
Earlier, the Chairman inaugurated the Wapda Single Officers Hostel. He said that the hostel aims at facilitating the officers who were transferred to Lahore, as Wapda was a national organisation whose area of operation was spread all over the country.
General Manager (Administration), Brigadier Najam-us-Saqib apprised the Chairman of the details of the hostel and said that it had been constructed with a cost of Rs 30 million.