The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) will build nine model villages to rehabilitate the people affected by the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam, WAPDA Member (Water) Syed Raghib Abbas Shah said on Wednesday. Talking to a private news channel, he said, “We will get sufficient water for agricultural sector from Diamer-Bhasha Dam and barren lands will be made cultivatable after its completion in eight years, while it will also help increase power generation capacity of Tarbela Dam.”
He said the present government had decided to build two to three new small dams in every province under the poverty alleviation programme, while President Asif Ali Zardari had inaugurated three to four such dams. He said such small dams would help control floods, provide extra water for agriculture besides power generation for local areas. To a question, he said WAPDA would give preference to local people for jobs at the dam, adding that it had set up a vocational institute to train local people.