PHOTO: FILE
The office bearers said that being an agrarian economy, Pakistan cannot afford to waste huge amounts of water resources which are fast depleting. “Shortage of water has not only caused undue damage to the agriculture sector but the manufacturing sector as well.”
LCCI President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad said that the nation could not waste any more time therefore the government should pave way for the early construction of Kalabagh dam which is the only solution of water and electricity shortage.
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He said that the economy is based on the agriculture sector which cannot survive without sufficient water resources. “We are already suffering from a delay in the construction of Kalabagh dam; any further snag would hit us hard.”
According to Arshad, the Kalabagh Dam issue had been under heavy political scrutiny therefore a consensus seemed difficult, however, the government would have to take a decision.
The LCCI president said that the Kalabagh dam is the most suitable project for the national economy as it would not only produce cheap and sufficient electricity but would also avert the devastation caused by floods every year.
LCCI Senior Vice President Almas Haider said that Kalabagh dam would also help control poverty levels. “The dam is not only beneficial to Punjab alone but it would be more helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and it would irrigate 800,000 acres of cultivable land.”
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Haider said that the civil society would also have to play its role in creating a consensus as new water reservoirs would benefit every Pakistani.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2015.
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