China to speed up construction of dam in Pakistan

State-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation has been working on Mohmand Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-western Pakistan since 2019

Beijing: China has announced plans to accelerate work on a “flagship” dam in Pakistan to ease pressure on its all-weather ally, weeks after India placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack, according to a media report.

The state-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation has been working on the Mohmand Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-western Pakistan since 2019.

The project was scheduled to be completed next year.

On Saturday, state broadcaster 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 Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The project officially began in September 2019 and was scheduled to be completed next year. 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.

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.

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 and is designed to 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.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan has access to the waters of the Indus and Jhelum and Chenab rivers, while India is entitled to use those from the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers.

Waters from the rivers constitute about 80 per cent of drinking and irrigation supplies to Pakistan.

Days after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India informed Pakistan of its decision to keep the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance with immediate effect, saying Pakistan has breached the conditions of the treaty. PTI