Islamabad:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s prime minister (KP), Ali Amin Gandapur, described the Kalabagh dam as a vital project for the state. He has urged the Government to address the reserves that people have with respect to the project, that the provinces of KP and Sindh have previously rejected.
Speaking to the media after a party meeting at the KP House in Islamabad on Monday, Gandapur, which belongs to the PTI, said that the absence of main dams has led to mass destruction during recent floods.
“We fear even mentioning the names of some dams, but the Kalabagh dam is necessary for the State. If there are objections in this regard, a dialogue must be had to solve them,” he added.
The CM said that they were ready to contribute their participation in the construction of the dam, and that other provinces should also play their role to make it possible. Gandapur said that delays in dam construction have caused huge damage, and now the provincial government is building dams alone.
He pointed out that Pakistan has not been properly prepared for natural disasters or built enough dams.
“Last year, we completed six dams. The Gomal Zam dam has been completed, which reduced the losses, and now we are building dams in several districts to mitigate the problems,” he said.
The CM said that for the protection of Peshawar, the Jabba dam is being built, while a protective wall is being built in Budhni to safeguard the city of floods.
Speaking with reference to the loss of hundreds of lives in Buner, he said that a bubble of clouds had occurred in the district, and the recent devastations in the area were not the result of deforestation.
“The clouds occur due to atmospheric heat and can occur anywhere,” he said.
The CM declared that the provincial government will build stone barriers, modeled after Switzerland, with nets to block rocks transported by flood waters.
The Kalabagh dam is a hydroelectric dam proposed on the Indo River in Kalabagh in the Punjab distress. The dam, first proposed in the 1950s, has been intensely debated along ethnic and re-general lines for several decades.
If built, the dam would generate 3,600 megawatts of power. It is also suggested and promoted as a potential solution for the chronic flood problem and related water crises in the country.
