Beijing: China has said it will step up construction on a major hydropower project in Pakistan, as the country grapples with growing challenges in its agriculture and industry following India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack.

State-run Chinese media reported that the state-owned China Energy Engineering Corporation, which has been working on the Mohmand Hydropower Project in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since 2019, will now accelerate construction efforts.

Pakistan is treating the project, initially scheduled for completion next year, as a national priority.

Citing state broadcaster CCTV, the South China Morning Post said last week that concrete filling on the dam had begun — a development hailed as “a critical construction milestone and a phase of accelerated development for this national flagship project of Pakistan”.

The Mohmand Dam, officially launched in September 2019, is a multi-purpose infrastructure project on Swat River.

The project aims at power generation, water supply and flood control.

Once completed, it is expected to produce 800 megawatts of electricity and supply around 300 million gallons of water daily to the province's capital, Peshawar.

The announcement comes just ahead of Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Beijing on Monday, where he is expected to hold talks with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.

Under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, Pakistan has exclusive rights over the waters of the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab rivers, while India is allowed to use the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas.

However, India suspended the agreement days after the April 22 terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam, accusing Pakistan of violating the terms of the treaty.

The rivers governed by the treaty provide nearly 80 percent of Pakistan’s water supply for drinking and irrigation — a reliance that has raised alarm within the country since India's decision to place the pact in abeyance.