LAHORE, Sept 7: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi said on Sunday that the country required dams and the beneficial one must be constructed first.

He was replying to questions of newsmen after inspecting the under-construction under-pass on The Mall here. He was asked which of the Kalabagh and Bhasha Dams should be constructed first.

The chief minister said the Punjab government was already constructing small dams in Khushab, Chakwal and Jhelum to cater to the needs of the province.

About the recent Punjab-Sindh row over the distribution of water, the chief minister said such differences were required to be eliminated. The era of seeking political gains (through such issues) had gone, he said.

He said the Punjab government would remove objections of Sindh over the construction of Greater Thal Canal and other projects. “We are inviting Sindh Assembly members here to discuss these and other general topics,” he said.

About the government-MMA talks on the LFO, he said “a strong bridge is being built between them.” He said except for the negotiating team no-one was allowed to comment on the parleys. He was, however, optimistic about the amicable resolution of all the issues between the parties.

Earlier, the chief minister expressed his satisfaction over the quality and speed of the construction of the under-pass. He excused from people for the inconvenience being caused by the construction of the under-pass but said the project would benefit them.

He said the under-pass would be completed within the stipulated period of three months but there would be no compromise on the quality. One could not complete construction of a house in three months but this big project would be finished within this period, he said.

The chief minister said the government was getting revised the feasibility report of the ring road so as to construct it on areas really having traffic load. The initial feasibility report was prepared by the World Bank many years ago but it was altered to include certain areas in Raiwind, he said without mentioning the farm house of Mr Nawaz Sharif there.

He said the feasibility report would be prepared on merit and private parties invited to construct the road. The project would be taken up by the government if ignored by the private parties, he said.