LAHORE – The under-construction Darawat Dam located in Thatta and Jamshoro districts of Sindh province will be completed by December this year, while irrigation system of the project is scheduled to be completed in June 2013. Darawat Dam, being constructed across Nai Baran River some 70 kilometres west of Hyderabad, is a component of Wapda’s plan to construct small and medium-sized dams in addition to its mega projects in water and hydropower sectors. Wapda said on Friday that it is constructing a number of small and medium-sized dams in the four provinces and FATA for socio-economic development of the people residing in remote areas. These projects are being taken up in the areas, which cannot be irrigated through Indus Basin Irrigation System with a view to optimal utilisation of water and land resources available in the country, added the Authority. Darawat Dam project is being completed with a total cost of about Rs.9.4 billion. The project will help store water for irrigated agriculture, mitigate floods and provide employment opportunities and emancipation of women.  The concrete-faced rock-filled dam is 820 feet long and 141 feet high, which will store about 120,000 acre feet of water to help irrigate 25,000 acres of land, besides creating 4,500 employment opportunities during the construction, operation and its maintenance. Annual benefits of the project have been estimated more than Rs1 billion. Life of the project’s water reservoir will be more than 100 years. The Federal Government has announced to provide up to 25 acres of land to poor belonging to project area.