Despite blacklisting of Lahmeyer International GmbH (Lahmeyer) by the World Bank, the firm would continue to work on the Bhasha Dam project because it was blacklisted after the contract was awarded.
Wapda Chairman Tariq Hameed expressed these views while addressing a press conference, here on Friday. He said that the German company was penalised on ethical issues going back 10 years and not on its professionalism. "The Federal Bank is in contact the World Bank on the matter and they had no problem with our working with the company. The World Bank had blacklisted the company on November 3 for seven years, under which no Bank-financed project would be awarded to them," he added. 'President Pervez Musharraf is very keen in the construction of five big dams by 2016 and he has expressed this resolve at various occasions', he said.
Terming the inauguration of Mirani Dam as a success of Wapda, he said that this was the first of Wapda Vision 2025 mega project that was timely completed in Balochistan. He said that four more such projects ie Nulang Dam, Subkzai Dam, Windar Dam and Hangoal Dam would follow in the biggest province of Pakistan. "The second dam would be inaugurated by March next and the next would be completed by the end of next year. We aim to build the dams one after the other," he added.
According to him, the work on Kachi Canal was in progress for Balochistan, which would be completed in 2008. First 300 kms of the canal would be in Punjab, starting from Taunsa Barrage, and enter Balochistan from Dera Bugti. After the completion of Kachi Canal, this would give Balochistan its share of water under the Indus Water Treaty. He showed satisfaction over the pace of work on other water projects and said that the Mangla Dam raising project would also be completed by 2007.
On Mirani Dam, Tariq said that this was the first water storage project that was completed by the private sector; it was responsible for both the design and construction of the dam, Wapda just provided consultancy. He disclosed that 33,000 acres of land would be irrigated by the dam and if drip and sprinkle irrigation system used, the figure would go up to 50,000 acres of land. "The total cost of the dam was Rs 5.89 billion from which Rs 1.5 billion had been disbursed for resettlement and compensation for the dam site affectees. Moreover, it took four years to complete the Mirani Dam and around 500 people were engaged in the project during the said period," he added.
He disclosed that people of villages between the Arabian Sea and dam site would have an access to clean drinking water round the year, which was not the case in the past. He also informed the newsmen that the stored water in the dam would be enough to last two drought years on the trot. "Keeping in view of silt and sedimentation, the capacity of the dam has been kept high to increase its life, which is 30 years. Moreover, lining of canals has also been completed from the dam to avoid water losses through seepage and its feeding system is based on gravity and not pumping," he added.