Islamabad: The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) has approved PKR 474 billion for Diamer-Bhasha Dam Project on 17th April 2018, according to a news report. This project is aimed at tackling the shortage of water and power generation in the country.
This meeting by the ECNEC was chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The meeting was told that the dam is proposed to have a 6.4 million acre foot (MAF) live storage capacity and installed power capacity of 4500 MW. The dam is to store water for 45 days, as opposed to the present capacity of 38 days. The government will provide funds from the budget, while WAPDA will arrange commercial financing.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) had previously cleared the Diamer-Bhasha dam at a cost of PKR 625 billion, however, after significant deductions of amenities in the project, the planning ministry has brought the cost down to PKR 474 billion. This cost, however, is only for the construction of the reservoir, without the power generation component as the plan for this will be formalised later.
