Key points
- India has suspended the Indus Waters Treaty
- Mohmand Hydropower Project was started in 2019
- Project is scheduled to be completed by next year
ISLAMABAD: In the wake of Indian threats to choke Pakistan’s rivers, China has said it was speeding up dam construction in Pakistan to mitigate water security risks.
India has suspended the World Bank brokered Indus Waters Treaty in the wake Pahalgam incident.
The treaty gave the waters of the western rivers—the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—to Pakistan and those of the eastern rivers—the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—to India.
The state-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation has been working on the Mohmand Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan since 2019.
China calls Pakistan its “iron-clad brother”, vowing to stand by it through thick and thin.
Officially initiated in September 2019, the project was scheduled to be completed next year.
Flagship project
CCTV reported that 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”.
The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty has left Pakistan facing water security risks, as the country reportedly relies on the Indus River system for about 80 per cent of its agriculture.
During the recent conflict, India cut the flow of the Chenab River by 90 per cent before opening the floodgates abruptly, creating a flood-like situation downstream.
Mohmand dam
The Mohmand dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is designed to serve as a multi-purpose facility for power generation, flood control, irrigation and water supply.
It will generate an estimated 800MW of hydropower and supply 300 million gallons a day of drinking water to Peshawar, the capital and largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
China and Pakistan are also stepping up efforts on committed projects focusing on cooperation in industrial development, agriculture and the improvement of people’s livelihoods.
The Diamer-Bhasha Dam and Power Project, nicknamed the “Three Gorges Project” by the Pakistani people, is one of many bilateral cooperation efforts between the two countries.
