Project Colony and Infrastructure

General

When the construction stage of the project starts, a large number of senior staff, technicians and workers of the contractor, the consultants and the employer will be engaged on various project activities. These staff must be provided with suitable residential accommodation and proper civic amenities as well as infrastructural and community facilities. This is essential to create a congenial work environment for improved efficiency/productivity, resulting in quality construction and timely completion of the project. WAPDA and the consultant staff have to be at the project site before construction contracts are awarded and before the main contractor mobilizes to site. Therefore, construction of the project colony must be undertaken and, substantially completed, before the contractor arrives.

Selection of Colony Site

The topography of the site is generally steep and large flat areas near the dam site that are suitable for the project colony and for construction camps are not available. Consequently, the camps and colonies have to be located in more than one place. Additional topographic surveys on a 1:500 scale and 1.0 m contour interval were completed at the following potential locations for Colony construction;

  • Jalkot
  • Komila
  • Tial Maidan
  • Shal
  • Choochang

Tial Maidan was selected for the project colony at the basic design stage. A master plan was accordingly prepared and included in that report. However, access to the location was difficult, requiring an additional spur from the KKH. Therefore, the site was shifted to Choochang and a new master plan of the project colony at Choochang has now been prepared. The project colony has been planned on comparatively flat areas in the village of Choochang which is approximately 3 km downstream of the dam site on the left bank. It is at a higher altitude than the existing KKH. The total land area occupied by the colony facilities is 31.5 hectares. The site for the Choochang colony is bounded on the south and south-west side by a very steep declining slope which is almost vertical and at the bottom is the existing KKH running along the Indus River. On the north side, the site merges with the foot of the mountains. The topography is generally flat with very mild slopes forming terraces. There are mainly two large terraces divided by a belt of comparatively steep area in between the terraces. The lower terrace, with an average elevation of 1020 m, edges along the cliff and the existing KKH towards the south and south-west. The other terrace; which is larger in size, starts from the centre of the site with an average of el. 1050 m and ends at the foot hills on the North side at el. 1070 m. The Choochang site is approximately 220 m above the existing KKH. However, independent access to the site is not required as the realigned KKH shall provide an easy approach to the site where it shall pass very close to the boundary of the colony site on the south side. The two natural terraces at differing levels on the site provide a natural division for creating two different zones of the site planning. These terraces have been used as two major zones for the provision of housing facilities for five categories of houses, offices and other amenities and facilities.

Area Allocations & Zoning

The concept of zoning in planning of the colony provides the required privacy and separation for each type of population and at the same time, the interconnections provide a sense of a unified community living together that is well connected to each other. Six zones are planned as follows

  • Zone 1: Project Office Facilities
  • Zone 2: Category 1 & 2 Houses
  • Zone 3: Central Business District
  • Zone 4: Category 3 & 4 Houses
  • Zone 5: Category 5 Houses
  • Zone 6: Officer’s Hostels Category 2 and WAPDA Club