MIANWALI: Dec 22: The district has been under tight security for Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit after Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi and some local government officials announced that they would not welcome Mr Aziz, saying that they were not invited “properly”.

The prime minister is scheduled to perform the ground-breaking ceremony of the Jinnah Hydroelectric Project on the Indus River today (Saturday).

Mr Niazi in an announcement said that he would not welcome Water and Power Minister Liaquat Jatoi in Mianwali for his anti-Kalabagh Dam stance.

He said on Thursday that the people from Mianwali were facing injustice and biased treatment by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), and if they reacted violently during the inaugural ceremony, the Wapda minister should be blamed.

This threat alerted the law enforcers, who tightened security in the district.

Gul Hameed Khan Rokhri, who is provincial minister for revenue and also rival of Mr Afgan in the local politics, however, vowed to welcome the prime minister on behalf of Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi.

He said he would receive Mr Aziz at the Jinnah Barrage with MAP Amir Hayat Rokhri, former district nazim Humair Hayat Rokhri and various union council nazims, naib nazims and the Pakistan Muslim League workers.

Mr Rokhri said that it was an honour for the district that the prime minister was visiting Mianwali. and following their norms and traditions they would welcome the guest with open heart and without any demands.

APP quotes Wapda chairman Tariq Hameed as saying in Lahore that the project, approximately five kilometre downstream of Kalabagh town in Mianwali district, would be completed in four years. The optimised project would produce 688 million units annually, he said.

The project is located on the right side of Jinnah Barrage as a bypass arrangement in hilly uplands and kutcha areas.

It lies in a dry, arid climate area influenced by river morphology and geological conditions, and is accessible round the year.

Mr Hameed said that after completion the project would reduce dependence on thermal power options thereby reducing growth of greenhouse gas releases, acid rain and air pollution.

It would also save foreign exchange to some extent by reducing fuel imports.

Overall, he said, the project would have limited environmental impact as it would neither affect the aquatic life nor had any adverse impact on human health.

Any sociological impact would be balanced by the benefits of the project with improved employment, infrastructure and standard of living.

The Wapda chairman said that the affected people were taken into confidence during the preliminary research, and they agreed to the land compensation and implementation of the project.

He said that Jinnah Barrage on river Indus was completed in 1945 as a component of the Thal project, which was built to raise the river’s water level to supply to the Thal Canal, which irrigated some 800,000 hectares land between rivers Indus and Jhelum.

“To facilitate smooth implementation of the programme to develop the hydropower potential at barrages and canal falls, Wapda is being assisted by GTZ German agency for technical cooperation,” he said, adding that this was the outcome of an agreement between governments of Pakistan and Germany on Oct 13, 1982.