The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has successfully completed the 17.4 megawatt (MW) Gomal Zam Powerhouse – a component of the Gomal Zam Dam Project and it will supply electricity to the national grid shortly.
Official sources said that Gomal Zam Dam is the first-ever mega project in water sector constructed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the powerhouse was currently on test run.
The project located in South Waziristan Agency, consists of three main components, including dam, powerhouse and irrigation system.
The dam was completed last year, the powerhouse is now complete, while the irrigation system is at the advanced stage of completion.
Gross storage capacity of the project is 1.14 million acre feet (MAF) of water to irrigate 163,000 acres of land. They said the powerhouse would contribute 91 million units of electricity annually to the system, which is sufficient to supply power to about 25,000 households.
The project is of immense importance for socio-economic uplift of the populace of remote areas, particularly FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project would ensure availability of water for irrigated agriculture, control floods and provide low-cost hydro electricity.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had provided $40 million to help complete the main dam and the powerhouse.
Another $40 million are also being provided by USAID for completion of irrigation component of the project and $12 million are committed for development of Waran Canal System.