Seven small dams built in K-P
With water becoming a precious commodity, the provincial government has completed the construction of seven small dams in different districts of the province for Rs26.84 billion. This was disclosed during a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Irrigation Department on Sunday. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan chaired the meeting.
The dams have been constructed under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and have a total live storage capacity of 21,694 acre-feet and will help irrigate 11,710 acres of land. The meeting was told that these dams were built in Karak, Haripur, Nowshera and Kohat.
The meeting was further informed that the Zamir Gul Dam in Kohat and Bada Dam in Swabi are under construction and are expected to be completed at an estimated cost of Rs1.12 billion and Rs1.921 billion respectively. The chief minister directed officials to ensure that the projects are completed at the earliest. He also directed to prepare a revised project concept-I (PC-I) for the construction of remaining small dams under PSDP.
Given the possibility of water shortage in the future, the construction of these small dams, Mehmood said, will be critical in not only increasing the water storage capacity of the province but also help promote agriculture production in the province as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2020.