WAPDA Chairman directed project management to make concerted efforts to minimise the negative impact of the recent flood on the implementation of the Nai Gaj Dam.
WAPDA Chairman Engineer Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) has directed project management to make concerted efforts to minimise the negative impact of the recent flood on the implementation of the Nai Gaj Dam, which is being built by WAPDA on the River Gaj 65 kilometres north-west of Dadu in Sindh province.
He made these remarks while presiding over a meeting to review the post-flood scenario for the Nai Gaj Dam Project. WAPDA Member (Water), General Manager (Projects) South, Project Director Nai Gaj Dam, and Project Managers from the Consultants and the Contractor attended the meeting.
During the meeting, a detailed presentation about the project’s pre- and post-flood situation was given. Construction work on the project was resumed last month after being suspended for about five months due to the devastating flood in the project area.
Work on the project’s various sites, including the main dam and spillway, is currently ongoing. The chairman, emphasising the importance of the project, urged project management to devise a contingency plan to offset potential delays in the project’s completion.
The Nai Gaj Dam is a multi-purpose construction project. The project’s main goals are to store water for irrigated agriculture, reduce floods, and generate low-cost hydel electricity. It will have a total storage capacity of 300,000 acre feet and a command area of 28,800 acres. The project’s installed generation capacity is 4.2 MW. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The coffer dams at Nai Gaj Dam have been partially damaged, while access roads to the dam site and from the contractor’s camp have been washed away.
Almost all construction activities are currently halted due to the damage and submergence of all access to the dam site from both the river and the Indus Highway. Once the supply chain has been restored, the restoration of access roads will begin.
The Nai Gaj Dam is a dam currently under construction on the Gaj River in the gorge area at the edge of the Kirthar Mountains range, approximately 65 kilometres north-west of Dadu city in Dadu District, Sindh Province, Pakistan. When completed, its power station will have an installed capacity of 4.2 MW.