MIANWALI, Dec 22: Tehrik-i-Istiqlal president Rehmat Khan Wardag has underscored the need for constructing dams “to save the country from significant financial loss.” “A dam costs $7 billion and promises a return of $5 million annually. Pakistan has been losing $25 billion every year for not constructing five big reservoirs, including Kalabagh dam,” Wardag told a press conference here.

He said the politicians who were opposing the Kalabagh dam project were not sincere with the country. He particularly made a mention of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chairman Imran Khan who, he said, was against the project to be carried out in his constituency.

The people of the area, he predicted, would not vote for him (Imran) in NA-71 because of his opposition to the dam.

The TI chief demanded that President Gen Pervez Musharraf should announce its construction simultaneously with that of Munda and Diamir Bhasha dams. Wardag claimed that he had arranged seminars at all the provincial headquarters and in the UK to inform the public about the importance of the reservoirs and assess their opinion. A majority of the people had no objection to it.

He said Pakistan was an agricultural country, but the capitalists had been installing industries on the fertile land. The government should discourage them by making a law to set up separate industrial zones. He suggested that 50 per cent share should be given to the area from where mineral was being extracted.