On Friday, April 7, an accident at one of the construction sites associated with the 4.5 GW Diamer Basha hydro project in Pakistan killed workers and injured others.
Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) visited the Diamer Basha Dam Project (also called Diamer-Bhasha) in the wake of an incident to view the site and interact with workers, according to a release.
The Diamer Basha Dam project is being constructed on the Indus River, 40 km downstream of Chilas town. Construction work is simultaneously under way on more than a dozen sites, WAPDA said. The specific site where the workers were injured was not disclosed.
Diamer-Bhasha Dam will have a storage capacity of 8.1 million acre-feet, with live storage of 6.4 million acre-feet, and irrigate 1.23 million acres of land. The powerhouse will generate 18,100 GWh of electricity annually when it is completed in 2029.
Before the visit, the management team for the Diamer Basha Dam Project informed the chairman about the causes of the accident [which were not included in the release] and provided details about the rescue and relief operation.
The Chairman expressed grief over the loss of precious lives. The number of people affected by the incident was not disclosed.
Emphasizing that the contractors and consultants, who joined him for the visit, thoroughly re-look at the current safety guidelines, he directed project management to put in place at all construction sites an effective safety mechanism to avoid such incidents in the future.
The chairman also provided compensation to the workers who sustained minor injuries in the accident. He had already announced compensation of INR500,000 (US$6,095) each for the families of the deceased, INR500,000 each for the workers severely injured and INR200,000 ($2,438) each for the workers with minor injuries. This compensation is in addition to money the affected individuals will receive from the contractor Power China, as per rules.
The following day, the chairman visited two severely injured workers at a hospital in Islamabad.
