ISLAMABAD, May 1: The Indus River System Authority will be given a presentation on the controversial Thal canal and Satpara dam projects here on Thursday.

Official sources told Dawn that two teams of Wapda and the Punjab irrigation department would brief the Irsa members on the pros and cons of the two projects.

An Irsa meeting has already been scheduled on May 7 to finalize its recommendations for the two projects. Under the Irsa Act, no irrigation project can be launched without its clearance.

Thal Canal project became controversial last month when the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council approved the scheme amid protest by Sindh.

The Sindh irrigation secretary had informed Ecnec that Wapda had already completed five kilometres of the canal digging without approval of the federal government. Apart from other objections, the meeting was informed that Irsa had not been consulted on the project.

Originally, the Irsa meeting was fixed for April 30 but it was rescheduled for May 7 on the directives of the Chief Executive’s Secretariat to avoid controversies appearing in the media ahead of referendum.

Irsa will now be given technical briefing on the Thal Canal project so that it could be cleared by Irsa for its subsequent approval by the federal government.

Sindh has also objections to the development of the Satpara dam in the Northern Areas. It is of the view that the development of Satpara dam in the upstream Indus region will reduce water flows to the province. Wapda has already floated tenders for the construction of the dam.