ISLAMABAD, Dec 24: Former chairman of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Engineer Fatehullah Khan Gandapur has said the life of the proposed Kalabagh dam will be less than 15 years and it will not play any part in improving the country’s agricultural production.

The former Irsa chief was speaking at a briefing on the Kalabagh dam project for the local leadership of the People’s Party Parliamentarians at the party’s central secretariat here on Saturday, says a press release.

Mr Gandapur said international experts had already rejected the project. He said the dam would be detrimental to the interests of smaller provinces. There are several alternative projects available which should be explored, he added.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP President Makhdoom Amin Fahim said Kalabagh dam project was a conspiracy against the federation and an effort to create hatred against Punjab. “This is a play to hide government’s failure at every level,” he added.

The briefing was attended by MNAs Zamarud Khan, Fauzia Habib and Nayyar Bokhari, MPA Amir Fida Piracha and party leaders Agha Riazul Islam, Syed Abrar Rizvi, Nargis Faiz Malik, Sardar Salim and others.

The meeting passed resolutions demanding that the government should shelve the project and consider alternative projects.

The PPP leaders expressed their resolve to resist Kalabagh dam at any cost and to pay sacrifices for the rights of the people.

Meanwhile, PPP spokesman Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement said the assertion that Benazir Bhutto had ever supported the Kalabagh dam was totally wrong.

He said the fact was that there was a proposal by certain elements about an Indus dam. “This was dismissed by the PPP government when it was found that it was nothing but the Kalabagh dam renamed,” he said.

Moreover, he said, no presentation was made to the then prime minister, Ms Bhutto, demonstrating that building a dam at Kalabagh was technically feasible.