ISLAMABAD, Dec 28: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday said Kalabagh was a natural location for the construction of a water reservoir, adding that a final decision about selection of one of the three proposed sites for undertaking first would be taken after completion of consultations with provinces and taking all stake-holders into confidence.

Mr Aziz was talking to journalists at the Prime Minister’s house after the government released on websites two of the three reports on the water issue, one on water reservoirs by a 9-member technical committee headed by A. G. N. Abbasi and the other on water requirements downstream Kotri by international experts.

He said that the process of consultations with political leaders was continuing and provincial experts on water reservoirs had been invited to the federal cabinet meeting on Saturday.

The premier said he had an aerial view of the proposed location of the Kalabagh dam during his visit to Chashma today and he was of the opinion that it was a natural location where water from four rivers — Indus, Kabul, Haro and Swan — converged and made a narrow water lane which seemed to be ideal for construction of a dam.

He said that the government had fulfilled the promise of making all the water reports public so that the people could go through them and form an opinion on the water reservoirs.

Senator Nisar Memon, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on water situation, would present his report in the Senate on Thursday, the premier said.

He said none of the nine members of Abbasi-led committee had opposed construction of dams as most of their objections related to technical aspects and priority. Answering a question, he said as far as the demand for implementation of 1991 water accord was concerned, the government had no objection.

To another query, premier Aziz said though foreign loaning agencies had shown interest in releasing funds for construction of dams, latest estimate of cost of dams was not available.

The prime minister said that Pakistan and China had agreed to further enhance their cooperation in nuclear power plants’ construction and Pakistan desired 600 MW power projects as against the two Chashma projects of 300 and 325 KW.

He said under the energy strategy, 8,800 MW nuclear power generation was the target and locations of new plants would be spread to those areas of the country, like Karachi, where power was in greater demand.

Answering yet another question, the prime minister rejected the notion that a military action was taking place in Balochistan and said that law enforcement agencies were taking action against miscreants in Kohlu, who had fired rockets when President Musharraf was on a visit to the area.

However, he said that the government believed in dialogue to resolve political issues and it would certainly like to settle the Balochistan dispute in an atmosphere of understanding.

When asked whether it was not failure of the Balochistan government in maintaining law and order that the federal government has to frequently rush in troops to initiate action, he said that it was a collective responsibility of the federal and provincial governments to take steps for restoration of peace when and where required.