SANGHAR, July 6: Like the Left Bank Outfall Drain and the Tidal Link, Badin, the Makhi reservoir (formerly Chotiari) is another project likely to prove counter-productive. The president of the Small Growers Association, Mr Hassan Askari, said there were structural faults in the reservoir and for that reason officials were applying delaying tactics to fill it. The Makhi reservoir, the Tidal Link Badin, surface drains and tube wells are components of the LBOD, a Rs30 billions project.

All the multi-billion projects have failed and brought devastation in Badin district during 2003 monsoon.

Mr Askari said the warranty period by contractors was about to expire but the reservoir had not been commissioned because no department wanted to take responsibility.

He said the reservoir’s embankments had desiccated and the erosion would take its toll when it would be filled through the lower Nara canal and Ranto canal.

He said the soil structure of the area was sandy and the erosion would cause breaches in the bund.

Irrigation experts said the reservoir could not be filled during the current flood situation.

According to sources, about 550,000 cusecs water will be reaching at the Guddu barrage on July 10 and no preparations have been made to fill the Makhi reservoir.

The reservoir is 13 kilometres wide and 16 kilometres long, covering an area of 45,000 acres in the lower Indus basin.

Its storage capacity is 0.7MAF at normal reservoir level of 87.5 feet.

It was supposed to benefit 290,000 acres of agricultural land of Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts.

Its date of completion was December 29, 2002 with a total cost of Rs2826 million and was inaugurated by former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali.

The reservoir is to be fed from the Nara canal through Ranto canal controlled at the Jamrao head. The design capacity of the Ranto canal is 6,500 cusecs.

The people had expressed reservations about the reservoir, the day when Mr Jamali had inaugurated the empty reservoir.

The Sindh government had refused to take over the reservoir from Wapda on some technical grounds, indicating several technical faults.

The Sindh irrigation department said it could burst anytime and would bring devastation to the Nara canal system and a vast adjoining area.

The provincial irrigation department was persuaded by Wapda and promised to rectify all technical faults and a few months back it was finally handed over to the Sindh irrigation department.

The department has closed the Ranto canal till July 15 on the plea of shortage of irrigation water. It said the capacity of the Nara canal was 13,600 cusecs which was hardly sufficient for agriculture.

Technical Director Khalid Haider Memon said there was no capacity in the Nara to carry extra water for the reservoir through the Ranto canal.

Its present capacity will be enhanced to 20,000 cusecs and also remodelling of the lower Nara then the reservoir can be filled.