WAPDA eyes Rohtas Dam for mitigation of floods, store floodwater

Kabira · Oct 26, 2020

LAHORE- Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) eyes Rohtas Dam for effective mitigation of floods and store floodwater to be used for agriculture. With this in view, WAPDA has been evaluating the possibility to construct this Project more vigorously. This was revealed during a meeting presided over by WAPDA Chairman Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain (Retd) and attended by the senior officers concerned. Underlining the need for construction of dams, the Chairman said that, Rohtas Dam like other water reservoirs will also play a pivotal role in saving the country from devastating floods and conserving floodwater to bring additional land under plough. He directed the officers concerned to take up the project on priority and accomplish the studies and other allied tasks in shortest possible time. He also made a mention of the multi-pronged strategy of WAPDA to harness water resources in the country under which a number of under-construction projects are progressing well including Mohmand Dam, Diamer Basha Dam, Kurram Tangi Dam (Stage-I) and Dasu Hydropower Project (Stage-I).

Rohtas Dam site is identified across River Kahan, a tributary of River Jhelum in a gorge near Rohtas Fort about 7.5 Kilometres South of Dina in District Jhelum. Main objectives of the project include mitigating floods, storage surplus flows of Mangla Reservoir during flood and low-cost hydel power generation. The project envisages a link channel taking-off from Mangla and ending at Rohtas to divert surplus flows from Mangla Reservoir to the proposed Rohtas Dam. The initial studies suggest that Rohtas Dam will have a water storage capacity of 2 to 3 million acre feet (MAF). In addition, the project will generate 100 MW of low-cost hydel electricity.