Federal Secretary Water Resources Shamail Ahmad Khawaja while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources said that the Government has shelved 20 dams out of the 83 planned for Baluchistan due to lack of funds bringing the number down to 63. This number is expected to further decrease in the upcoming mini budget. The meeting was chaired by Senator Shamim Afridi who expressed serious reservations regarding the Govt’s decision of dropping 20 dams which were planned for storage of drinking and irrigation water. He instructed the committee to draft recommendations on the subject of water shortage in Baluchistan province and forward it to the federal government to add these projects in Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) on priority basis.
The panel also directed the Ministry of Energy Water and Power Division to incorporate the projects dropped from current financial year’s PSDP in the next financial year on priority basis.
It is pertinent to mention here that in the first week of Januarty a A Senate Panel had demanded Rs9 billion collected for construction of multi-billion dollar Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams to be diverted for development of a series of small dams in Balochistan to support agriculture and livestock sectors and create job opportunities.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Reforms was presided over by Senator Agha Shahzaib Durrani who had asked the federal government to increase the number of small and medium dams in Balochistan from 100 to 500.
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