News
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Business community wants Kalabagh Dam built* Businessmen say govt’s silence over issue causing loss of Rs 132 billion annually
Staff Report
LAHORE: The business community has called for early construction of Kalabagh Dam, terming it the “only long-term solution” to end load shedding and poverty and save the country from devastating floods.
The government has failed to build small dams and produce electricity from alternative energy projects, pushing the country into severe power crisis.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that all those who were opposing the construction of Kalabagh Dam were enemies of the country and playing with the country’s future.
“Only because of the government’s silence over Kalabagh Dam, the country is suffering a loss of Rs 132 billion annually. This amount can be saved by constructing the dam,” he said.
The LCCI president said that the government should constitute a team of experts that should convince all the provinces that Kalabagh Dam was necessary for the progress and prosperity of the country. He said that experts had already said that the dam would pose no threat to Nowshera as the city was 150 feet above the water level. “Kalabagh Dam is not only beneficial to Punjab but it will be more helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because it would help irrigate 800,000 acres that is located 100-150 feet above the level of Indus River,” Irfan said, adding that this land could only be used for cultivation if the river level is raised, which is possible only if Kalabagh Dam is built.
Pakistan Industrial and Trader Association Front (PIAF) Chairman Sohail Lashari said that the construction of Kalabagh Dam was a must to ensure availability of water to the agriculture sector and cheaper electricity to both the trade and industry of the country.
He said the government should develop consensus among federating units by convincing them that building Kalabgh Dam is the only way out of the ongoing power crisis. He said that the government should also launch coal-based power projects.
PIAF leader Nadir Kamal Osman said that Kalabagh Dam was the “excellent” solution to power crisis but the present regime shelved the project with one stroke of pen. He said that Pakistan could generate thousands of megawatts of electricity through coal and other alternate resources.
He urged Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to immediately start work on power generation projects, announced in the Punjab budget.
The construction of Kalabagh Dam along with other new dams is desperately needed to store adequate water. According to a conservative estimate, about 30 million-acre-foot of water is being wasted into the sea because the country has no big water reservoir to store it. There is also a constant threat of floods due to melting of glaciers as a result of global warming.Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk