A delegation of National Security and War Course of National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad on Tuesday visited WAPDA House. The delegation headed by Brigadier Hammad Qadir, attended briefings on the water and power sectors of the country. WAPDA Member (Power) Badr-ul-Munir Murtiza and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.
WAPDA Advisor (Diamer Basha Dam Project) Dr Izhar-ul-Haq and PEPCO General Manager (Revenue and Commercial Operation) Muhammad Saleem briefed the delegation about water and power sectors, respectively. During the presentation about water and hydropower sectors, the delegation was apprised of that WAPDA is committed for optimum development of water and hydropower resources in the country. At present, WAPDA is constructing six hydropower projects with cumulative generation capacity of 4792 megawatt (MW).
These projects include 969-MW Neelum Jhelum, 1410-MW Tarbela 4th Extension, 106-MW Golen Gol, 128-MW Keyal Khwar, 2160-MW Dasu (Stage-I) and 18.9-MW Kurram Tangi Dam Project (Stage-I). Out of them, three projects of 2485 MW are scheduled to be completed by the year 2018.
The delegation was also informed of water sector projects which are under construction including Kachhi Canal (Phase-I), Nai Gaj Dam, Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD)-I and III, and lining of Muzaffargarh and Taunsa Panjnad Link Canals. The delegation was ind that seven other projects in water and hydropower sectors are ready for construction. These projects include Diamer Basha Dam, Bunji Hydropower Project, and Mohmand Dam etc.
The delegation was also briefed about annual water flows and storage capacity, per capita availability of water, impact of climate change on water resources, water management challenges, water conservation and hydropower potential of the country. In another briefing, the delegation was briefed about power sector reforms, electricity crisis and issues relating to power sector.
The delegation was also apprised the Government's efforts to overcome the electricity shortages in the country.The other measures include improvement in transmission and distribution systems, automatic metering infrastructure, net metering and better customer services etc.
Following the briefings, a question-answer session was also held, wherein the queries about water and power sectors raised by the participants were responded to. Later, WAPDA Member (Power) and NDU delegation head exchanged the souvenirs as memento to the visit.