The government of Pakistan has authorised the construction of the US$105.7M Tank Zam dam project in the country’s West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The 25MW project is designed to help the province improve its agricultural productivity in an effort to alleviate poverty. It will irrigate 18,211.5 hectares annually.
Local Media says the structure will be a 79m high earth-filled dam that will impound the flood waters of the Tank district and be able to store 37Mm3. The embankment will measure 381m long with a crest elevation of 696m, spanning 137m at end level with a crest width of 10.7m.
The drainage basin will measure 2175.6km3 as it enters the Dear Is Mail plain. The length of the watercourse is 96.54km from the Waziristan mountains to its main confluence Shahur, which has a drainage area of 932.4km3.
The headwaters of the river drain the Razmak mountains, which reach an altitude of 3353m.