The President, of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi conferred the PEC Excellence Award upon Chairman WAPDA Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field of civil engineering, leadership and dedication to the national cause. The excellence award was bestowed upon him in the category of ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for distinguished National Service.
The award ceremony was held at the Aiwan-e-Sadr under the aegis of the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
As Chairman of WAPDA, Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) has shown exceptional leadership and fervent management acumen, transforming WAPDA into a highly productive and output-oriented public sector organization. Spearheading a strategic approach, he successfully optimised several water and hydel projects of national importance. Despite the economic crunch, construction work continued on eight mega projects in the water and hydropower sectors, which is regarded as one of his most significant contributions. These projects are scheduled for completion from 2024 to 2029 in a phased manner to add 9.7 MAF water storage and about 10,000 MW of green, clean and low-cost hydel electricity.
Under his dynamic leadership, WAPDA achieved the landmark of river diversion at Dasu Hydropower Project in February 2023, while at Diamer Basha Dam in December 2023. WAPDA is likely to achieve the milestone of river diversion at the Mohmand Dam Project also in the next three months. Another outstanding achievement is the rehabilitation of the collapsed tailrace tunnel and restoration of Neelum Jhelum Hydel Power Station in a record time of 11 months, a task that usually takes about 18 to 24 months, thus contributing significantly to the national exchequer.
Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) belongs to the Pakistan Army’s Corps of Engineers and has over 44 years of professional experience. He graduated from the Military College of Engineering, Risalpur and holds a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), Lahore.
As a young engineer, he executed various construction projects in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. As Commander of Corps Engineer, he facilitated the Tameer-e-Karachi programme and overviewed several irrigation and drainage projects of Sindh province during 2002 – 2003. He has also developed and administered Army operational and logistic infrastructure as Quarter Master General from 2010-2013. He, as Officer in charge of NLC executed numerous mega projects in Punjab and other provinces of the country. He also headed Pakistani construction companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
