HYDERABAD: The Sindh government has started a Rs2.9 billion project for rehabilitation of Ghotki Feeder Canal, which would be completed in two years.
Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) MD Babur Effendi said this in a statement. The Ghotki Feeder Canal irrigates land in Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur districts.
“We felt the need for the rehabilitation due to accumulation of massive amount of silt. The structures and regulators also became old and water regulation became difficult,” said Babur Effendi. He said that the encroachment over the land along the canal would also be removed. He said that the contract of the development work had been awarded to a Lahore based company, Descon, which won the contract after a tender.
The SIDA spokesman Hizbullah Mangrio informed that the designed capacity of the canal was 8,540 cusecs with some 800,000 acres of agricultural land in its command area. However, the reduced capacity had also led to a reduction in cultivation of crops in the command area by 30 to 40 percent. “After the rehab, the canal will flow to full capacity in the peak seasons of cotton, rice, sugarcane and wheat sowing,” he added.
The government would also provide facilities to traders who were already paying taxes.
Earlier, Chairman All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran Khawaja Shafique, General Secretary Naeem Mir and officers of FBR highlighted benefits of tax schemes.
