Kalabagh Dam vital for state: Gandapur

K-P CM urges govt to address concerns with regard to shelved project

ISLAMABAD:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has described the Kalabagh Dam as a project vital for the state. He has urged the government to address the reservations that people have with regard to the project, which both the K-P and Sindh provinces have rejected earlier.

Speaking to the media after a party meeting at the K-P House in Islamabad on Monday, Gandapur, who belongs to the PTI, said the absence of major dams has led to massive destruction during recent floods.

"We are afraid to even mention the names of some dams, but the Kalabagh Dam is necessary for the state. If there are objections regarding it, dialogue should be held to resolve them," he added.

The CM said they were ready to contribute their share for the construction of the dam, and that other provinces should also play their part to make it possible. Gandapur said delays in building dams have caused enormous damage, and now the provincial government is constructing dams on its own.

He noted that Pakistan has neither prepared adequately for natural disasters nor built sufficient dams.

"Last year, we completed six dams. The Gomal Zam Dam has been completed, which reduced losses, and now we are constructing dams in various districts to mitigate problems," he said.

The CM said for Peshawar's protection, the Jabba Dam is being built, while a protective wall is under construction in Budhni to safeguard the city from floods.

Talking with reference to the loss of hundreds of lives in Buner, he said a cloudburst had occurred in the district, and the recent devastations in the area were not a result of deforestation.

"Cloudbursts occur due to atmospheric heat and can happen anywhere," he said.

The CM stated that the provincial government will build stone barriers, modeled after Switzerland, with nets to block rocks carried by floodwaters.

The Kalabagh Dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Indus River at Kalabagh in the Mianwali dis-trict of Punjab. The dam, first proposed in the 1950s, has been intensely debated along ethnic and re-gional lines for several decades.

If constructed, the dam would generate 3,600 megawatts of power. It is also suggested and promoted as a potential solution to the chronic flooding problem and the related water crises in the country.