The dam is designed to provide a year-round water supply for irrigation of 104,000 hectares of agricultural land and generation of 360 MW of power as its major functions while municipal water supply, recreation and fish culture are secondary purposes.
The undertaking involves the construction of an earth fill dam 115-m high and 3,960-m long, primary structures including a spillway on the left abutment, two large-diameter diversion tunnels and a hydroelectric plant downstream.