Delays in the construction of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam have become a serious threat to the country’s long-term water, food and energy security, a monitoring committee constituted on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan warned on Wednesday.
The concerns were raised during a meeting of the implementation committee overseeing the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dam projects.
The meeting was chaired by the chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority, Lt Gen (retd) Muhammad Saeed, where progress on key aspects of the dam projects was reviewed.
The committee, formed to monitor the progress of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam on the Supreme Court’s directions, urged local communities and provincial authorities to remove obstacles hindering construction work and accelerate the process of land acquisition.
Officials emphasized that further delays in the mega project could pose a significant challenge to the country’s future water storage capacity as well as its food and energy security.
The committee stressed the need for close coordination among stakeholders to ensure that outstanding issues are resolved promptly so that construction activities on the strategic hydropower project could proceed without interruption.