August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 23, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Aug 25: The National Assembly was informed on Monday that the Kalabagh dam was in the list of projects to be implemented to enhance water storage capacity in the country.

“New large dams on Indus, Swat and Kurram rivers namely Diamer-Bhasha, Akhori, Kalabagh, Munda and Kurram Tangi dams etc., will be constructed in pursuance of the cabinet decision of January 17, 2006 to store additional 23.5 MAF of water,” Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf told the house during question hour.

The minister’s statement surprised many as the PPP which heads the coalition government has been opposing the idea of constructing the Kalabagh dam. It was Mr Ashraf himself who recently announced that the plan to construct the dam has been abandoned.

The house was told that the existing water storage capacity of reservoirs was only 13.24 MAF. It includes Tarbela (8.07), Mangla (4.67) and Chashma (0.50) MAF

The minister said Wapda has initiated Vision-2025 programme for development and efficient management of water and power resources. Under the programme, Mirani and Sabakzai dams in Balochistan have been completed in the year 2006 and 2007, respectively.

He said Gomal Zam and Satpara dams were being constructed to regulate the flows especially in the monsoon season. Mangla dam was being raised by 30 feet to store additional water of 2.88 MAF.

Mr Ashraf said the feasibility study of Akhori dam project was completed in November 2005. Detailed engineering studies will take 30 months and construction will take five years subject to approval of PC-II for detailed engineering design and PC-I for construction of the project. He said an amount of Rs286.857 million has been incurred on the preparation of feasibility study of the project. He said the cost of construction of Akhori dam was estimated at $4.4 billion in 2005. He said Rs50 million have been allocated for engineering studies of the project for the year 2008-09.

He said the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam is expected to commence in the year 2009. He said the anticipated total cost of the project is $12.6 billion. He said an allocation of Rs920 million has been made in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2008-09 for construction of 23 small dams in NWFP, Nai Gaj dam in Sindh and Hingol, Naulong, Sukleji and Winder dam in Balochistan. He said the provincial governments were also undertaking small dam projects out of their own resources.

The minister claimed that around 250 megawatt of electricity had so far been saved by advancing the clock by one hour.

He assured the house that the duration of loadshedding would be kept at the minimum possible level during the holy month of Ramazan. He said on the instructions of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, there would be no loadshedding during Iftar and Sehar.

Answering another question, he said there was no proposal to provide subsidy in electricity bills to the farmers in Balochistan.

Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza admonished the minister for water and power on an occasion noticing that replies to many of the questions pertaining to his ministry had not been received. She deplored that answers to the questions that had been deferred previously were still not available. These included queries about time by which loadshedding will be totally eliminated, the quantum of electricity supply at present, the steps being taken by the government in the wake of commencement of construction of Kishan Ganga dam by India to divert river Neelum and the time by which Golen Gol hydel power project will become functional.