China Rushes To Build Dam As Water Scarcity Bites Pakistan After India's IWT Move

[Spartan]

China said it will 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 that 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 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.

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.