The paper has published a report on Diamir Bhasha Dam in its issue, dated 31-08-2016. It reveals a dam built by roller concrete
with a real height of 922 ft. above sea level and 270 ft. above the river level to impound a water reservoir of 7.4 MAF. Since the water would be stored in narrow gorge 110 KM long it would be located on a fault line in a highly seismic sea. It has been presented as an awe-inspiring project. It may well be called an awful project as nowhere in the world a roller concrete dam of higher than 650 ft. height has ever been built. The technical committee majority report had written that “Pakistan needs a facility and not a monster. We need assured safety of structures and not international records of physical dimensions”. As such we should think twice about building a 16 billion $ monster in a highly seismic area.
Dr. Muhammad Yaqoob Bhatti