LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz says Kalabagh Dam is inevitable for survival of Pakistan
LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the chief ministers of all provinces to sit together and plan to help the catastrophe-hit people of the economic capital of the country.
“The entire nation is in deep pain due to deaths of the people of Karachi, therefore federal and all provincial governments should allocate their maximum resources to help the victims of heatwave and to avoid further loss of precious lives. The federal government is doing a lot to move the things in right direction and a roundtable would do a great help to evolve a well-planned strategy,” said LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz in a statement on Saturday.
He said that all segments of society in general and politicians in particular should express harmony at this crucial moment when people of Karachi are in deep trouble.
Ijaz A Mumtaz said that though it was a natural disaster, the federal and all provincial governments were duty bound to come forward and play their due role at this juncture for the help of disaster-hit people. He said that it was a matter of satisfaction that the federal government was already utilising all its resources to overcome the situation.
He said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should convene a roundtable of political leadership for evolving a strategy aimed at controlling the Karachi situation that would be a great favour to the nation.
Ijaz A Mumtaz said that the government would have to control power and water scarcity issues throughout the country and only solution was the maximum water reservoirs. He said that Karachi tragedy was a wakeup call for the policymakers and if appropriate measures were not taken, it could also happen in other parts of the country.
He said that earlier Tharparkar and now Karachi tragedies have fully highlighted the need of Kalabagh Dam and now it had been proved this mega project was inevitable for the survival of the country. He said that Kalabagh Dam would not only provide 6.5 million acre feet of water to all the provinces but also generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity at a very cheap rate.
The LCCI president said that if sufficient electricity was available to the trade and industry round-the-clock, not only the local investors would get encouragement but foreigners would also be ready to initiate joint ventures with their Pakistani counterparts; thus creating more jobs for the unemployed youth. Furthermore, sufficient water would be available to all the provinces, he said.
