LAHORE, Dec 26: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi says construction of big water reservoirs is in the best national interest and not any single province.

Talking to reporters after opening a new hostel at the Lahore Gymkhana on Monday, the chief minister said reservations of political elements of other provinces regarding construction of reservoirs were being removed.

He said Punjab had always given priority to national prestige in every matter, and never thought in regional terms. The fact that it helped politicians from other provinces to lay claim to the office of prime minister was sufficient to prove the assertion, he said.

However, he regretted that the politicians who declared their parties national were talking in regional terms in various provinces.

He recalled that such situation had been created by certain elements when work on Mangla and Tarbela dams was executed, but the projects were now meeting irrigation and power needs of the country.

He said if new dams were not constructed, lands of Punjab, Sindh and other areas would be rendered as barren.