April 8, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 9, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 7: Wapda is facing problems in completing the Rs32.45billion Kachhi Canal project in Balochistan by the June 2007 deadline because of technical and security-related problems.

Reliable sources said on Friday that Wapda wanted additional time to complete the survey and investigation work before starting construction.

Wapda said that more personnel of the army engineering corps needed to be deployed for clearing mines laid by saboteurs, adding that adequate security should be provided to Wapda staff.

The sources said that Wapda had informed higher authorities that its engineers were working on plans for construction of the Kachhi Canal.

The federal government had been told that a head regulator at the Taunsa Barrage across the Indus River is proposed to be built from where a 312-mile-long Kachhi Canal would off-take to irrigate about 713,000 acres of Kachhi plain lying on the right bank of the Pat Feeder Canal.

About 6,000 cusecs of water will be carried through the Kachhi Canal which will be parallel to the D.G. Khan Canal.

The completion of the Kachhi Canal will help develop agriculture in an area of 713,000 acres, providing an assured supply of 6,000 cusecs of irrigation water in Balochistan. It will also help in reducing imports of food-grain and oilseeds, besides assuring availability of potable water.

The canal will provide an effective flood-control system through its flood-carrier channels in the command area.