Background
The Dam site at Khajuri was first envisaged by four British officers of the Royal Corps of Engineers in 1898 and surveys were carried out. The Government of Pakistan approved the construction of the Dam in August 1963 and preparatory work was commenced. However, it was stopped due to the outbreak of the 1965 Indo-Pak War and by subsequent budgetary constraints. However, in 2001, the local Provincial Minister Aminullah Gandapur brought the delay in the construction of the dam to the notice of the then President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, who ordered its construction. The earthbreaking ceremony was held on 21 August 2001.
In 2002, Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) hired a Chinese joint venture, M/s CWHEC-HPE, to lead construction at a cost of about Rs. 4.388 billion. The venture joined China National Water Resources & Hydropower Engineering Corporation and Harbin Power Engineering Company. Work halted in October 2006 due to the security situation. Work resumed in 2007, after Pakistan put its army's construction branch, the Frontier Works Organisation, in charge. It hired as sub-contractors China's state-owned M/s Sinohydro Corporation to complete the dam, and Turkey's M/s Tekser to finish irrigation works. The total cost of the resumed project is about Rs. 12 billion.
In July 2010, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it would provide funding for the dam.
Further delay to the project was caused by the 2010 Pakistan floods,.
Construction of the Dam was completed in April 2011 and filling of the reservoir was started in the same month.
Read more about this topic: Gomal Zam Dam
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