LAHROE: The construction of 3,600MW Kalabagh Dam, upon completion, will not only to help eliminate power loadshedding but will increase industrial output by $5-6 billion a year, while its contribution to value addition in agricultural output could go up to $10 billion a year. The KBD has also the potential to single-handedly wipe out rural poverty in Pakistan.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Standing Committee on KBD Chairman Abdul Basit emphasized that the KBD was the most feasible and economical project which would not only help address the electricity shortage but would also help shore up the fast-depleting irrigation water capacity for agriculture sector which was the backbone of national economy.
He pointed out that the dam would not only generate 3,600 megawatt power but would also provide additional 2.2 million acre water to the KPK, 4 million to Sindh, 2 million to Punjab and another 1.5 million acre water to Balochistan for irrigation.
Reacting to a recent statement of ANP chief Asfandyar Wali that Pakistan and Kalabagh Dam could not go together, he said that in fact people of Pakistan could not go together now with the opponents of Kalabagh dam.
He declared that in 2013 general elections, the ANP had got less than 5 percent of the registered votes of KPK and that it did not suit them to talk on behalf of the entire province.
Meanwhile, Dr Salman Shah said that the KBD was the only project in Pakistan that could make power affordable for the masses in a short period of five years. It is also the only project that can make the economy competitive and sustainable without the crutches of bailouts and loss of sovereignty.
The future prosperity of eastern Sindh is now certainly closely linked to water storage from the construction of the Kalabagh dam. This epic mega project can transform the rural economy of Sindh, generate large-scale employment, huge agricultural surpluses and quickly wipe out rural poverty.
