PESHAWAR, Dec 19: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani said on Monday that the federal government should construct Bhasha dam instead of building the controversial Kalabagh dam.

“We have already suggested to the federal government to build Basha dam rather than starting work on a controversial project,” Mr Durrani told newsmen during a seminar.

He said that Kalabagh was a controversial site and federating units, including the NWFP, had reservations about the proposed project. He said that provinces had agreed to construct reservoir at Bhasha because there was immense storage and power generation potential there.

When asked about reports about PML-Q’s plan to move a resolution in the NWFP Assembly in favour of Kalabagh dam, the chief minister replied: “Let the PML table a resolution in the house.”

Earlier, speaking at the seminar Mr Durrani said that the provincial government had distributed Rs7 billion among the quake victims, out of the total Rs7.5 billion received from the federal government.

He said the estimated reconstruction cost in the five districts was Rs90 billion, of which Rs17 billion would be required for the reconstruction of government buildings while Rs70 billion would be needed for the reconstruction of houses.