A Memorandum of Understanding worth Rs972.571 million has been inked among the Diamer Basha Dam Project, WAPDA, and the District Administration of Diamer, officially launching the implementation of livelihood schemes for the communities in the wake of the WAPDA’s Confidence Building Measures for this project area. The Diamer Basha Dam CBM livelihood schemes MoU has been signed in the presence of the Chief Secretary Gilgit-Baltistan Arshad Majeed.
The General Manager and Project Director for the Diamer Basha Dam Project, Dr. Engr. Nazakat Hussain, and the Deputy Commissioner of Diamer Lt. Muhammad Owais Abbasi (Retired), signed this MoU – a meeting point between the technical management of the project and the district administration to provide community development services.
Uses of Rs 972.5 million
Community-Based Management projects implemented for the Diamer Basha Dam involve a variety of community-based activities that will help uplift economic status and quality of life for the people living in the region where the dam is going to be built.
According to the MoU provisions, the livelihood schemes will be implemented through the appropriate line departments under District Administration guidance, in consultations with the local community. The provision for consultation with the local community ensures that the scheme is designed on the basis of actual local needs.
The Joint Committee shall be made up of members representing three institutional pillars:
- District Administration – local governance & service delivery coordination
- WAPDA – Project Authority & Technical Oversight
- Community – Direct stakeholder representation which ensures the committees answerability to the beneficiaries of the scheme
In this way, the multi-stakeholder accountability structure through the Joint Committee structure will prevent implementation failure, which has been the bane of all community development programs in large infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
Allocation of Rs78.5 Billion for Socio-Economic Development
The MoU of Rs972.5 million for the socio-economic development program of Diamer Basha Dam CBM projects is one part of a much bigger promise of social development. In all, an amount of Rs78.5 billion has been allocated for socio-economic development of communities in the project areas of Diamer Basha Dam project the largest such allocation made in the history of Pakistan.
It is due to both the extent of displacement and effect on communities that such a massive dam project can cause, and also because of the responsibility of the WAPDA to make sure that the affected communities have a stake in the gains made by the project through international best practice standards for mega dams.
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Previous Development Achievements of the Project Area
The Diamer Basha Dam CBM livelihood schemes MoU capitalizes on previous successful development schemes achieved in the project area which showcase the commitment of WAPDA towards its community:
- Thore Hydel Power Station: completed, contributing towards generating electricity within the local community
- Thak Hydel Power Station: completed, providing access to electricity for the region
- Cadet College Chilas: completed, contributing towards quality education of the youth in Gilgit Baltistan
Such past developments provide solid proof to the local community of the ability of WAPDA to deliver on its development commitments, giving the confidence required to facilitate the success of the Diamer Basha Dam CBM livelihood schemes implementation.
Importance of Confidence Building Measures for Diamer Basha Dam
For over two decades, people living in the Diamer region have witnessed the prospects and uncertainties involved with Diamer Basha Dam. Projects of large dams within Pakistan and around the world have an established record of uprooting local communities, interrupting their means of earning income, and providing them with their share of social development gradually.
Diamer Basha Dam CBM livelihood schemes program, with its allocation of Rs78.5 billion and now with district-level agreements on how to implement the program, attempts to address the established trend through the systematic and accountable implementation process rather than a top-down approach.
Nayab Fatima is a media professional specializing in fact-based journalism, research, and analytical reporting on technology, telecom, aviation, and automobiles.
