Gomal Zam Dam

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Gomal Zam Dam Project is located in the Damaan area of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The Gomal River, on which a 437 feet (133 m) high Gomal Zam Dam will be built, is one of the significant tributaries of Indus River. It is planned to irrigate about 163,000 acres (660 km²) of land. The total projects costs amounts to Rs. 12 billion. It will be a Roller compacted concrete dam, having a gross storage of 1.14 MAF. It will produce 17.4 MW of electricity when completed. Approximately Rs. 4.388 billion contracts for the construction of Gomal Zam Dam Project was awarded in August 2002 to M/s CWHEC - HPE, a joint venture of China National Water Resources & Hydropower Engineering Corporation and Hanbiw Power Engineering Company. However work stopped in October 2006, after two Chinese engineers were kidnapped, one of whom was subsequently killed and the other injured in the recovery operation.^[1]

The contractors asked for negotiations for a new contract on the basis of prevailing market prices of material, but the government of Pakistan rejected this demand. Instead the government decided on September 27, 2007 to award the contract for construction of Rs 13 billion Gomal Zam Dam to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and a Turkish firm Tekser, who had been runners-up in the original tender.^[1]