LAHORE: The business community has expressed concerns over the deaths of hundreds of people in Karachi due to loadshedding and said that the government should start building all the dams, including Kalabagh Dam.
All Pakistan Business Forum (APBF) President Ibrahim Qureshi also lauded MQM chief Altaf Hussain for supporting the most controversial but the most important project of Kalabagh Dam. He said that the intensity of recent loadshedding during extremely hot weather in Karachi could have been decreased if KBD was there to provide 3600 MW of electricity to the national grid.
It is welcome step of Altaf Hussain to announce support for the construction of Kalabagh Dam and urged the government to complete this project after disposing of the reservations of Sindh people.
He said that Pakistan’s per capita water availability had already gone below 975 cubic metres from 5100 cubic meters in 1960 which is a great threat to industry, agriculture and masses which not only require urgent steps.
Institution of Engineers Pakistan Lahore Centre Chairman Engineer Syed Khalid Sajjad said that the federal and provincial governments are continuously bashing one another, instead of providing a valid solution to the ongoing situation of Karachi. He said that colossal death toll within four days could have been minimized by ensuring uninterrupted power and water supplies to the Karachiites during the ongoing scorching summer season.
LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz and Convener Standing Committee on Kalabagh Dam Abdul Basit said that Kalabagh dam is the most suitable project for the national economy as it would not only produce cheap and sufficient electricity but would also avert the human tragedies.
Pakistan Economy Watch chairman Dr Murtaza Mughal said that KBD is the most viable and most politicised project in the history of Pakistan which would cost less and last longer than any other dam in the country.
