Weeks after India holds Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, China plans to accelerate work on ‘flagship’ dam in Pakistan

China has announced plans to accelerate work on a “flagship” dam in Pakistan to ease pressure on its all-weather ally, news agency PTI said in a report on Monday.

The move comes weeks after India placed the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack, it said, citing a media report. The state-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation has been working on the Mohmand Hydropower Project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-western Pakistan since 2019, it added.

On Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV reported that concrete filling on the dam had started. This marked “a critical construction milestone and a phase of accelerated development for this national flagship project of Pakistan”, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.

The project officially began in September 2019 and was scheduled to be completed next year, the PTI report added.

Pak's Deputy PM's China visit

The move comes ahead of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar's visit to Beijing on Monday for talks with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.

Dar, who arrived in Beijing on Monday on a three-day visit, is the first high-level Pakistani official to visit China after India carried out precision strikes under 'Operation Sindoor' on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

Dar was expected to discuss a gamut of issues with all-weather ally China, including India’s decision to put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, the report said.

“China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners….This upcoming visit of Dar reflects the high importance the Pakistani government attaches to the development of China-Pakistan relations," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a media briefing in Beijing.

"Regarding the situation between India and Pakistan, China has stated its position on multiple occasions. We are willing to maintain communication with both sides and play a constructive role in realising a full and lasting ceasefire and maintaining regional peace and stability,” Mao said.

What is the Mohmand Hydropower Project?

The Mohmand dam in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is designed to serve as a multi-purpose facility for power generation, flood control, irrigation and water supply and is designed to generate an estimated 800MW of hydropower and supply 300 million gallons a day of drinking water to Peshawar, the capital and largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the PTI report said.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan has access to the waters of the Indus and Jhelum and Chenab rivers, while India is entitled to use those from the eastern Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers.

Waters from the rivers constitute about 80 per cent of drinking and irrigation supplies to Pakistan.