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Kalabagh or Bhasha Dam within a year, says
Musharraf
ISLAMABAD: April 05: President Pervez Musharraf
has agreed with the Water and Power Ministry’s
recommendation in starting constructing either the
Kalabagh or Bhasha Dam on the Indus River within
one year to cope with Pakistan’s future water and
electricity needs, an official told Daily Times on
Thursday.
However, the president said the decision to start
constructing at least one major dam should be
finalised after June 30, as the parliamentary and
technical committees formed to tackle water issues
were supposed to make their reports on either
constructing the Kalabagh or Bhasha Dam by that
date (June 30), the official added.
Chairing a meeting to review the progress made by
Pakistan’s power sector, the president asked
Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz to speed up
negotiations with donors for a $15 billion
investment over 10 years in the water sector.
However, the minister was asked to arrange
soft-term loans for the investment.
In his presentation, Water and Power Minister
Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao talked about the progress
being made on the current projects in the water
and power sectors, the official said.
“To implement the current water sector strategy,
Mr Sherpao also recommended the government resolve
water issues with India and Afghanistan on
priority,” the official said. President Musharraf
also asked the authorities concerned to quickly
resolve water issues with Kabul and New Delhi, he
added.
Mr Sherpao said eight projects costing Rs 165.1
billion were currently being worked on. Pakistan
would be able to store an additional 4.44 million
acre feet (MAF) of water and irrigate 2.9 million
acres of land. The raising of Mangla Dam with a
cost of Rs 62.55 billion would start sometime in
May 2004 and would be completed by June 2007. With
the dam’s raising, Pakistan would have an
additional storage capacity of 2.9 MAF and would
be able to generate 300MW of additional
electricity, he added. Gomal Zam Dam with a water
storage capacity of 1.14 MAF and power generation
capacity of 17.4MW would be completed by September
2006, he said. Sabak Zai Dam would be completed by
June 2005, Mirani Dam by June 2006, Satpara Dam by
March 2006,Greater Thal Canal by June 2007, Kachhi
Canal by June 2007 and Rainee Canal by December
2007, Mr Sherpao added.
“The president also asked for these projects to be
completed on time,” the official said.
The water and power minister also briefed the
meeting about the power sector, saying Pakistan’s
total power generation stood at 19,404MW, out of
which 6,489MW was being generated by hydroelectric
means while 6,042MW through independent power
producers. However, Pakistan had the potential of
producing 42,000MW of electricity, he added.
President Musharraf also asked authorities to
encourage and facilitate projects for the
generation of hydroelectricity in the public and
private sectors. He said a competitive environment
was needed in the power sector to introduce
affordable and accessible electricity to the
people of Pakistan.
The APP |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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