LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), while supporting the stance of Wapda Chairman Zafar Mehmood on Kalabagh Dam, has called for the construction of the dam to avoid hunger, control floods and to generate cheap electricity.
In a statement issued here, LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad and Senior Vice President Almas Hyder said that it is a good omen that head of one of the most important departments Zafar Mehmood is advocating for the construction of Kalabagh Dam. They said that there is a dire need to support such personalities who think about the country.
The LCCI office-bearers said that government should not listen to those elements that are used to cry against only those projects which are beneficial for Pakistan and always utilized their energies to put the national interests on stakes.
They said that at the one hand every year floods play havoc with the country, cause loss of billions dollars besides eating up thousands of lives while at the other, country is facing energy deficit since decades. They said that Kalabagh Dam is the most viable solution of these key issues but a particular lobby is opposing this mega project under a well-planned conspiracy. They said that these elements have not said a single word about Bhasha dam as they know well that in the present scenario, construction of Bhasha dam is a very hard task while Kalabagh Dam could be built with quite ease.
They said that this impression is completely wrong that Kalabagh dam will benefit only Punjab. They said that this project will be beneficial for all of the four provinces of Pakistan. They said that electricity generated from Kalabagh damn would be supplied to the national grid and would be distributed throughout the country.
The LCCI office-bearers said that all provinces should keep the technical aspects of Kalabagh Dam in their minds instead of doing criticism for criticism.
“An opinion gained widespread support across the country that the losses of floods in Pakistan which are estimated to be billion dollars could have been reduced if big dams and water reservoirs were in place”, they added.
They said that Kalabagh Dam, is not only beneficial to Punjab alone but it would be more helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber Pakhtun Khawa as it would irrigate 800000 acres of cultivable land that is located 100-150 feet above the Indus river level in the province. They said this land could only be brought under cultivation if the river level is raised that is only possible if Kalabagh Dam is built.
They said that any further delay in construction of unduly politicized Kalabagh Dam will cost highly to the coming generations.
“It is the high time that all undue stands should be brushed aside to save the country from that era of darkness. Unlike Pakistan, India is constructing dams at every possible site. It has left us decades behind and coming time does not promise any good thing either”.
The LCCI office-bearers said that the existing dams are constantly silting up leaving ever decreasing capacity to store water. The construction of Kalabagh dam along with other new dams is desperately needed to store adequate water. According to a conservative estimate about 35 million acre feet of water is being wasted into the sea because the country has no big water reservoirs to store it.
