LAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Standing Committee on Kalabagh Dam Chairman Abdul Basit, quoting the report of Indus River System Authority (IRSA), has urged the government to halt all the development programmes for five years and use these funds on construction of water reservoirs, including 3,600 megawatts KBD.
Basit also appreciated the government and opposition parties who become united to elect the Senate chairman, urging them to also show unity on the construction of Kalabagh Dam which is best possible option to eradicate loadshedding in least time. He said that the new storages will help improve the diminishing per capita water availability, increase the GDP and control flood. It will also ensure availability of cheap environment-friendly hydroelectric power to overcome the power crisis.
He said that local and international water experts, including the World Bank and Earth Policy Institute, have also been warning Pakistan about major water crisis, flood and drought in the next 20-30 years owing to unusually fast depletion of the Himalayan glaciers, low storage capacity and other related uncertainties.
The Standing Committee chairman said that the water regulator, comprising irrigation and engineering experts from all the four provinces, have also pointed out that minimum 22 million acre feet (MAF) storage capacity should be built at the earliest.
Basit also pointed out the fears expressed by Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif last month about looming water shortages which may force the people to forget current energy shortages. IRSA reports also pointed out that more than 30 MAF of water was going down to the sea, against 8-10 MAF, he added. He said that unfortunately, due to indifferent approach towards the precious resource, the availability of water at canal heads has reduced to 97 MAF (which was 105 MAF in 1991) against allocations of 117 MAF.
