ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: The controversial Thal Flood Water Canal project was approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec), following a heated debate between the officials of Sindh and the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) here on Thursday, Dawn reliably learnt.

During the arguments between Wapda and Sindh officials it transpired that the authority had already started work on the project without the approval of the competent authority, an official present at the meeting said.

Wapda official, explaining the authority’s point of view, recalled that the project had been inaugurated by President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Aug 17, soon after unfolding his economic development plan.

Wapda official said the authority had already completed work on a stretch of five kilometres and had already spent substantial amount of funds.

The Sindh government maintained that Wapda should have waited for an approval by the competent authority before starting work on the project.

It pointed out that the opinion of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) had not been sought by the Planning Commission, which was mandatory in the project concerning irrigation, under a decision of the federal government.

The source disclosed that Irsa had also written a letter to the relevant authorities reminding them that the work on the project could not be initiated without seeking their opinion, particularly in view of the fact that one of the federating units had serious reservation on the project.

Sindh officials stressed that the project should be reverted to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for discussing the technical details of the project.

They observed that at the stage of the CDWP no working paper had been circulated by the sponsoring agency. The main thrust of the arguments of the Sindh government was that there had already been serious shortage of irrigation water in the country and the construction of canal would further aggravate the problems of the province.

The canal would be taken out from the Chashma Jehlum Link Canal and would irrigate an area of 1.5 million acres in southern Punjab.

The Ecnec also reviewed Left Bank Outfall Drainage project and directed Wapda to inform the Sindh government about the punitive action taken against the consultant for faulty designing of Tidal link.

Sindh government informed Ecnec that because of a serious design fault Tidal link had been badly damaged which had been constructed to keep sea intrusion in check.

Wapda official said the UK-based consultant had already been black-listed by the authority.