Ten graduates hired at Diamer-Basha Dam after internship

Ten Pakistani graduates have been hired at the Diamer-Basha Dam project after completing a six-month paid internship under the second batch of the Young Talents Internship Programme, according to a PowerChina notification issued on November 6. Gwadar Pro also reported that the graduates had secured jobs at the dam after the internship.

The graduation ceremony was held at the dam's project camp, and all ten participants were taken on at the project afterwards. The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) and PowerChina, the Chinese construction company in the joint venture building the dam, run the programme together.

The Daily CPEC reported that the interns spent the six months on construction and project management work, with each graduate mentored by a Chinese engineer. The first two cohorts of the programme have trained and employed 14 local young people between them, including the ten from the latest batch, according to the report.

More than 8,000 Pakistani workers have been recruited for the project, according to project information reported by Gwadar Pro. The Daily CPEC reported that joint training programmes run with Pakistani agencies have given technical education to more than 600 young people from areas near the site.

WAPDA describes the dam as a 272-metre-high roller-compacted concrete structure on the Indus near Chilas, at the boundary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is designed to store 8.1 million acre-feet of water and to generate 4,500 megawatts, with annual output put at about 18,097 gigawatt-hours. Construction will need about 18.7 million cubic metres of concrete, the project information reported by Gwadar Pro says.

WAPDA is executing the project and PowerChina is part of the joint venture carrying out major construction work. The dam's workforce needs span civil engineering, surveying, quality assurance and safety management.