Future Scenario: Water Aggression vs. Water Conservation.


Written by 

Sana Tahir 

Investigative journalist.

China accelerates construction of Mohmand Dam after India’s April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack. New Delhi threatened to suspend the Indus Water Treaty and use river water as a strategic weapon. In response, China announced that it is doubling the pace of work on the Mohmand Dam under construction in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district to provide an immediate and solid foundation for Pakistan’s water-and-energy security. Chinese state-owned company CEEC has officially launched the ‘fast track phase’ by pouring the first layer of concrete filling, which Beijing has described as Pakistan’s national flagship project.


Mohmand Dam is a 213-meter (700-foot) high Concrete-Faced Rock-Fill Dam on the Swat River. The dam has a gross storage capacity of 1.239 million acre feet (MAF) and a live storage capacity of 0.676 MAF.  The installed power generation is 800 MW, which will feed approximately 2.86 billion units of cheap hydroelectric power into the national grid annually.

Thus, water: 1.29 MAF of storage will be blocked and released during dry months by blocking floodwaters of Swat, significantly reducing flood risks in Nowshera, Charsadda, and Peshawar


Irrigation: Peshawar will get 300 million gallons of clean water per day, which can meet 65-70 per cent of the city’s daily requirements.


Irrigation: The dam will irrigate 18,237 acres of new land and meet the water deficit of 160,000 acres of existing land.


Energy: 800 MW of green power is expected to save about Rs. 19.6 billion annually in oil import bills.

According to Wapda estimates, Mohmand Dam will provide a total of Rs51.6 billion in economic and social benefits annually, including affordable electricity, increased irrigation production area, urban water supply and flood protection. According to Wapda’s latest briefing, 98 percent of the excavation of the main dam’s foundation blocks, up- and downstream coffer dams and power tunnels has been completed, while the overall work has crossed the 35 percent mark. The diversion of the Swat River in January 2025 and the start of concrete filling in May are two key milestones that have put the project on the fast track.

The initial contract (2019) had commercial completion of the dam set for July 2024, but geological complications, land acquisition, and fund flow delays pushed the target to 2026-27. Now, under China’s emergency acceleration plan, double shifts have been implemented simultaneously at the powerhouse and spillway, and unofficially, the first generator is expected to be tested by the end of 2026, although the official PC-1 still lists 2027 as the final date.

Strategic Buffer: In case the Indus Water Treaty is suspended or any unilateral Indian action upstream, Mohmand Tail will act as a regulator, at least softening the immediate impact in the Kabul River Basin.


Increase in Total Storage: Pakistan’s total water storage capacity (only 13 percent) will gradually reach around 15 percent with the addition of Mohmand, which is still below the global average (40 percent), but is certainly a significant step.


Successful Model: After Mohmand, the political narrative required for projects like Diamer-Bhasha, Akori Khuda and Kalabagh will be stronger that water and food security are linked only to dams.


Carbon Neutral Development: 800 MW hydel power will save 1.8 million tons of carbon emissions annually, which is a significant contribution to Pakistan’s NDC targets.

Mohmand Dam is not just a hydropower project, but Pakistan’s future water defense line. India’s open threat to use water as a political weapon has made this dam not just an engineering project, but a pivot of regional strategic competition. If Pakistan completes it on time, the project will not only meet the long-standing need to cope with floods, alleviate power shortages, and provide fresh water to Peshawar, but will also play a decisive role in the changing balance of hydrogeography in South Asia.


#IndusWater #Treaty #indopak #China MohmandDam #Waterside #International #IndianMedia 

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