Daily Times

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) on Tuesday welcomed the action taken by the Supreme of Pakistan on water issues and the Kalabagh dam and termed it a ray of hope for the Pakistani nation.

LCCI President Malik Tahir Javed said that the SC has translated the wishes of over 200 million people and agriculture sector of Pakistan. In this regard, a campaign has been launched by the LCCI as well.

Malik Tahir Javed said that perhaps Pakistan is the only country around the globe where important water and power projects are being opposed that is unfortunate. Indian water aggression and our failure in building new water reservoirs have thrown the country into the list of water-starved countries.

He said that those opposing the Kalabagh Dam are to be held accountable as research reports have warned that Pakistan will reach absolute water scarcity by the year 2025 if water reservoirs are not built.

The LCCI president said that perceptions against Kalabagh Dam are totally wrong and actually are a move to safeguard the interests of the enemies of Pakistan. He said that Kalabagh would be equally beneficial for all provinces. Actually delay in construction of Kalabagh dam is the one and only reason of water shortage in Sindh and other parts of the country. He said that the water supply to Sindh was averaged 36.6 million acre feet annually before construction of Mangla and Tarbela dams. This supply was enhanced to 40.30 million acre feet after the building of these dams, adding that the Kalabagh dam will also supply over 4 million acre feet additional water to Sindh.

The LCCI president said that the LCCI had already feared that water crisis would hit the agriculture sector of the country due to lack of sufficient water storage facilities while water storage capacity in Tarbela and Mangla dams has considerably gone down. Therefore, Kalabagh dam is a must for the country.

“It would be better if anti-Kalabagh elements play a role for early construction of this mega project instead of fueling the provincial conflict otherwise our future generations would suffer,” Malik Tahir Javed added.

The LCCI president said that the Kalabagh dam is inevitable for the progress and prosperity of the country as it will produce power at an average cost of Rs 2/kwh. This cheap power will annually displace costly power worth approximately Rs 300 billion with consequential savings of costly oil imports.

He said that there was no threat to Nowshehra city as it is 150 feet above the water level, adding that Kalabagh Dam, was not only beneficial to Punjab alone but it would be more helpful in erasing poverty from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The dam would irrigate 800,000 acres of land that is located 100-150 feet above the Indus River level in the province. He said this land could only be brought under cultivation if the river level is raised that is only possible if Kalabagh Dam is built. He said the other alternative is to pump the water which is very costly.

Published in Daily Times, June 6^th 2018.