LAHORE: Outgoing Wapda Chairman Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain (Retd) paid farewell visits to four under-construction signature projects of Wapda namely Mohmand Dam, Tarbela 5th Extension, Dasu and Diamer Basha Dam.

Wapda Chairman designate and Member (Finance) Naveed Asghar Chaudhry, who was on his maiden visits to these projects, also accompanied him. Wapda projects’ management and representatives of the consultants and the contractors concerned were also present on the occasion.

Underlining the significance of harnessing water and hydropower resources for development of Pakistan, the outgoing Chairman said that a silent revolution is taking place in Pakistan as WAPDA’s 10 under-construction mega projects are progressing at a good pace. These projects, which are scheduled to be completed from 2022 to 2029, will ensure water, food and energy security of Pakistan with cumulative gross water storage capacity of 11.7 million acre feet (MAF) and installed hydel power generation capacity of 11369 megawatt. It would be sufficient to irrigate 3.5 million acres of land and provide 44.7 billion units of green and cheap electricity on the average every year, he added.

Appreciating the commitment and dedication of the projects’ management in carrying these projects forward, he said, “Integrity, dignity and competence reign supreme. I am fortunate to have good people around me.” Elaborating the hardships in the way to implementing projects six-seven years ago, he said, “We were mindful of the fact that Wapda must stand up to tackle these challenges. Wapda not only completed four long-stranded projects but also had been able to initiate 10 mega projects by removing the bottlenecks.” He expressed the hope that Wapda teams will make their best efforts to complete these projects as per the timelines.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022