PESHAWAR, Sept 26: A meeting chaired by Senior Minister Sirajul Haq reviewed progress of work on construction of small dams and took necessary decisions for expediting the pace of work.

The meeting also decided to complete irrigation schemes in adjacent areas of Peshawar for bringing arid lands under cultivation.

The schemes included construction of Sikh Dheri Dam in Adezai Village near Peshawar with an estimated cost of Rs150 million. With a height of 68 feet, the dam will have a storage capacity of 2,000 acre feet and irrigate 250 acre barren land in the area.

Besides the officials of Irrigation and Public Health Engineering, the meeting was also attended by MNA Sabir Hussain Awan, MPA Javed Momand, former nazim of Town-4 Haji Niaz Mohammed, Nazim of Adezai Union Council Haji Abdul Malik, his deputy Mohammed Iman, Nazim of Sherkera UC Said Amin Khan and others.

The meeting was informed that PC-I for 20 small dams in the province had been prepared wherein Rs4000 million had been allocated by the federal government under the Public Sector Development Programme and Rs50 million by the provincial government.

The senior minister directed the authorities concerned to accelerate the pace of work on the irrigation schemes and ensured their timely completion.

He was told that consultants were being hired for the purpose and work on the schemes would start soon.—APP