| Muzammil Hussain addresses as key note speaker at concluding session
LAHORE - Former Chairman WAPDA, Lt. General (R) Muzammil Hussain was invited to give the keynote address at the closing session of the 27th Congress of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). The week-long conference was held from May 27th to June 3rd, 2022, in Marseille, France with a participation of over 1400 experts from across the globe.
Lt. General (R) Muzammil Hussain was granted this honor in recognition of his significant contribution towards the development of large dams in Pakistan. ICOLD is an organization dedicated to the sharing of professional information, knowledge & standards of the design, construction, maintenance, and impact of large dams. With a present total of 104 member countries, ICOLD leads the profession in ensuring that dams are built and operated safely, efficiently, economically, and with a minimum environmental impact. ICOLD leads the profession in setting standards and guidelines to ensure that dams are built and operated safely, efficiently, economically, and are environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. ICOLD technical guidelines on all aspects of dam design and safety are based on state of the art knowledge and our projects are being designed and constructed by following the ICOLD guidelines and standards.
Former Chairman WAPDA, Lt. General (R) Muzammil Hussain apprised the ICOLD Congress on water and hydropower sector development in Pakistan through mega projects by WAPDA. He said that WAPDA is implementing multi-pronged strategy for unprecedented hydropower and water storage development in Pakistan under vision of “Decade of Dams”, through an innovative financial strategy.
On completion of these projects, the water storage capacity in Pakistan will increase from existing 13.6 million acre feet (MAF) to 25.3 MAF with addition of 11.7 MAF irrigating another 3.5 million acres of land. The additional water storage will increase carry over capacity of Pakistan from 30 to 45 days. These projects will also add 4,543 MW by 2026 and yet another 6,853 MW of hydel energy to the National Grid by 2028-29. Hence, installed generation capacity of WAPDA will surge from existing 9,406 MW to 20,802 MW with more than 120% increase by 2028-29 in a phased manner. In addition to creating about 35,000 employment opportunities, the projects are also contributing significantly towards socio-economic uplift of under developed areas.
