QUETTA, Dec 13: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has urged the people of Balochistan to support the case of new dams and let others know that Balochistan is not against construction of new reservoirs.

Addressing elected representatives, notables, lawyers and intellectuals at the Governor’s House here on Tuesday, he said that three new dams were needed to overcome the anticipated shortage of water.

He said that the dam issue had been politicized to the extent that people in Sindh were not ready to hear anything about new reservoirs.

If new dams were not built, all the provinces, including Sindh would suffer, the president said, adding that he would talk to the people of Sindh and make them realize the necessity of new dams.

He said that according to Irsa statistics, Balochistan and the NWFP were not getting their due share of water, and Balochistan would start getting its share only after completion of the Kachhi canal.

However, additional water would be available only when new dams were built, he said, adding that at present there was a shortage of nine million acre feet of water, which might increase to up to 30 million acre feet by the year 2025.

President Musharraf said mega projects being implemented by the federal government in Balochistan were well on schedule and would bring about major socio-economic changes in two to three years. He said that Rs140 billion was being spent on the projects.

The president said that the 500km-long Kachhi canal would be completed by 2009 at a cost of Rs35 billion. It would irrigate 700,000 acres of land.

The Mirani dam would be ready by the middle of the next year and irrigate 34,000 acres of land in Mekran, he said, adding that the Sabakzai dam would be completed by Sept 2006 and it would water 5,000 to 6,000 acres of land in the Zhob district.

President Musharraf said that the Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab-Basima road would be completed in three years, linking the Gwadar port with the RCD and Indus highways.

The Khuzdar-Rato Dero road would be completed in near future, whereas the Quetta-Zhob-Dera Ismail Khan road had become operational and after construction of 13 bridges it would ensure smooth traffic, he added.

Gen Musharraf said the Gwadar port would be ready by June 2006 as dredging was in progress up to 15 meters to allow berthing of 50,000-ton container ships.

International bidding would be invited to run the port in accordance with international standards, he said. An oil refinery would also be set up at Gwadar and a new airport would be built there, he added.

President Musharraf said he would inaugurate the LPG supply station at Gwadar in January. This facility would also be provided to Chaman, Zhob and Turbat soon.

He said that opening the Khojak railway tunnel, linking Chaman with Quetta, to road traffic was under consideration.

He said that the political process in the country was moving ahead and the assemblies would complete their tenure.

Governor Balochistan Owais Ahmed Ghani, Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf, Federal Minister Zubaida Jalal, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Mir Nasir Mengal, PML secretary-general Mushahid Hussain were also present.

Earlier, the president attended a briefing on various ongoing development projects in the province.