PESHAWAR, June 28: The NWFP government has been urged to rehabilitate irrigation system, particularly canals, to put an end to wastage of water and spread of water-logging in the Peshawar valley and surrounding areas.

A proposal in the respect was made at a debate titled “Water crisis in NWFP,” held here on Saturday following a meeting of the Communication Roundtable of the Sarhad Provincial Conservation Strategy.

Speaking on the occasion, engineer Hashmatullah Awan, an expert of the NWFP water sector and currently acting as a consultant to the provincial government, said the MMA government should invest in the irrigation sector to control water-logging and enhance efficiency of the canal system.

He said wastage of water due to seepage in canals had increased which also caused water-logging in Peshawar and its surrounding areas. It is estimated that around 60 per cent of water goes waste in irrigation channels, he added.

Mr Awan said the government had planned to improve the irrigation system under the second phase of the National Drainage Programme.

He said civil canal system was playing a vital role in the irrigation sector, particularly in Hazara division and proposed that the provincial government should assist the local community in rehabilitating this century-old irrigation system.

Mr Awan said the Frontier province needed new reservoirs and canals to utilize its share under the Water Accord and increase cultivable land area in the province particularly in the southern districts.

He said experts had proposed to the NWFP government to replace the existing Abiana system (water rate) with volumetric system to curb mismanagement of water and enhance revenue of the provincial government.

At present, he said, the province was unable to utilize its share due to lack of infrastructure. He informed the audience that a feasibility report of the Kurram-Tangi dam in southern areas of the province was being prepared, while the Pehur High Level Canal in Swabi district would be commissioned soon.