Despite unfavorable weather circumstances, Prime Minister Imran Khan declared on Thursday that the Tarbela Dam has been filled to its full capacity.
The prime minister announced on his official Twitter account that the dam had been fully filled as of yesterday.
“This is a good omen for agriculture and hydel generation”, he wrote.
Prime minister Imran also praised the staff at the Water and Power Development Authority and the Indus River System Authority for “improved water regulation”.
Alhamdulillah, Tarbela Dam filled to its max level yesterday despite unfavourable weather conditions this year. This is a good omen for agriculture & hydel generation. Appreciate the team at WAPDA/IRSA for improved water regulation.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 2, 2021
Prime Minister Imran was present at the Tarbela-5 expansion project’s groundbreaking ceremony last month, which intended to safeguard the dam from silting, produce 1,530 MW of energy, and supply 1.34 billion units of power to the national grid.
PM Imran stated during the event that his administration has planned to construct ten dams in the next ten years.
“We may face water shortage in the future and would be unable to cope with the needs of people and farmers unless we have storage,” he said.
The dam was reported to have lost 40% of its water storage capacity due to silting earlier this year.
“As per Hydrographic Survey 2017, the water storage capacity of Tarbela dam has been reduced by over 40% due to silting in the reservoir,” official sources disclosed to the media. They said since its operation the live and gross storage capacities of the Tarbela reservoir had reduced by 37.524% and 40.58%, respectively.
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