NEW DELHI, May 19: China has promised to accelerate work on a “flagship” dam in Pakistan as the nation faces struggles in its agricultural and industrial sectors after India placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack.
Chinese state-run media agencies in a report said the state-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation which has been working on the Mohmand Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-western Pakistan since 2019 will now accelerate its work to complete the project.
The project was scheduled to be completed next year. State broadcaster CCTV last week said concrete filling on the dam had started, marking “a critical construction milestone and a phase of accelerated development for this national flagship project of Pakistan,” media report said.
The move comes ahead of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Beijing on Monday for talks with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.
The Mohmand Dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is being built as a multi-purpose project meant to generate electricity, supply drinking water and help control floods. Once operational, it is expected to produce 800 megawatts of power and provide 300 million gallons of water daily to Peshawar, the province’s capital.
As per the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan holds the rights to the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers. India can use the waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas. China’s move followed India’s announcement to suspend the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty after the deadly militant attack on tourists at Pahalgam on April 22. Waters from the rivers constitute about 80 per cent of drinking and irrigation supplies to Pakistan.
(Manas Dasgupta)
