Kamal stresses need for cashing in on rainwater

CM says emergency measures needed to control water crisis in province

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has stressed the need for utilising rainwater to tackle the water shortage issue in the province.

“We have to build new dams in Balochistan to make use of rainwater,” said the CM on Friday while chairing a meeting of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) to review development projects and departmental affairs.

Provincial Minister for PHE Nawabzada Tairq Magsi, Additional Secretary Planning and Development Sajjad Bhutta and Secretary PHE Saleem Ahmed Awan were also present at the meeting.

Kamal said the province needs immediate measures to control water scarcity in the province.



The meeting also discussed the water dispute with Sindh government and the secretary PHE was directed to meet the Sindh chief minister and his counterpart to discuss the matter.

“We have been wasting a huge amount of rainwater due to the absence of dams in Balochistan,” he said, adding, “Dams have become imperative for our province… so we can store water and produce electricity through our own resources.”

The CM stressed “an immediate need for building new dams and devising a better mechanism for provincial canal system”. However, he noted that these goals could not be achieved without the federal government’s support.

About the continued drought in numerous districts of the province, Kamal said that the PHE has been directed to prepare recommendations to control the drought on an emergency basis. He said the water level in the province has been decreasing and many areas have dried up completely.

Briefing the meeting about the progress on the 100 dams project, the PHE secretary said that around 20 dams have been completed with the allocated fund of Rs2.4 billion and construction on 46 new dams is underway. He added that Shadi Kor Dam in Makran division has completed and water supply to Pasni has started.

CM Kamal directed the authorities to complete study on the formation of new dams and select appropriate locations for their construction.

Earlier, on Thursday the chief minister chaired a high-level meeting of the Urban Planning and Development Department to review their performance.



Kamal had directed the provincial government departments to work within their jurisdiction with careful planning and sincerity.

“The incumbent provincial government is facing problems as many of its departments exceeded their jurisdiction and participated in development projects,” he said.

Kamal said, “Unfortunately, we didn’t take seriously the Quetta Master Plan due to which the people of Quetta were stranded while the master plans for Divisional Headquarters were prepared with weak grounds.”

The CM said poor planning caused resources to go to waste.

Lamenting on issuing tenders without consultancy, he said, “Tenders are issued after acquiring consultants’ expertise.”