Six small dams to be completed this year
The construction of six small dams is expected to be completed during the current financial year (2011-12) which would help irrigate around 12,310 acres of agricultural land.
The dams include Darmalak Dam (Kohat), Lawaghar and Karak Dam (Karak), Khair Bara Dam (Haripur), Jabba Khattak Dam (Nowshera) and Palai Dam (Charsadda).
An official of the Ministry of Water and Power on Saturday told APP that the government has so far constructed 49 small dams and plans to build eight more in Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock and Chakwal to promote agriculture in these regions.
The official said through these (49) dams 85,356 acres of land is being irrigated now and added the feasibility study was being done on 11 more dams. Some of them will be built in 2011-12 while others in 2012-13, he added.
He said the 12 dams would be constructed in two phases in all the four provinces with storage capacity of four MAF water. In the first phase Winder and Naulong dams will be constructed in Balochistan, Kurram Tangi in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Darwat and Nai Gaj in Sindh and Ghabir Dam in Punjab.
He said these dams will not only help in irrigation but also provide clean drinking water. The provincial government has allocated Rs1 billion for Punjab Agriculture Research Board and also doubled budget for the improvement of research infrastructure.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2011.
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ET should check this out properly because if its true then its a major plus for this sorry adminstration. Do these dams also provide electricty to the surrounding areas ??