QUETTA, Nov 2: The Chairman of Water and Power Development Authority Tariq Hameed has stressed the need for building big dams to meet future requirements of water and power. Speaking to garrison officers at the Command and Staff College here on Tuesday, he said that in view of the importance of dams work on Kalabagh should be taken up soon.

He rejected apprehensions expressed by various political parties and groups that construction of the dam would adversely affect Mardan, Pabi and Sawabi would convert Sindh into desert and destroy the delta jungle.

He said that the storage height of the Kalabagh dam would be 915 feet, lower attitude than Mardan. Only a few hundred acres of land would be affected, but the dam would irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

Referring to the feasibility of Kalabgh, Bhsha, Akhuri nd Sakardu dams, he said among these the Kalabagh dam was the most suitable. Construction of other dams would be complicated, time-consuming and expensive. The Kalabagh dams will also generate cheap electricity.

He said many countries in the world was constructing small and big dams for their national requirements. China is constructing 59 dams, Turkey 22, India 6, Iran 28 and Japan 35. “If we do not implement the decision on construction of the dam at the earliest the nation will badly suffer with water scarcity by 2025,” he observed.