MIANWALI, Dec 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Saturday that the construction of Kalabagh and four other dams would be completed by 2016 with consensus to meet the water reservoirs and electricity needs of the country.

Speaking at the ground breaking of the Jinnah hydropower project near Kalabagh, the prime minister said that while seven years ago the country was begging from other nations, now the government was in the position to built big projects for the betterment of the country with its own resources.

He said the government was also working to get electricity from natural gas, furnace oil, coal, nuclear energy, bio mass, windmills, solar energy and other sources.

He said that because of the arrival of foreign investors the country’s electricity demand was increasing by up to 12 per cent annually and the new projects are part of the efforts to meet the requirement. He said there would be no loadshedding after the completion of such projects.

The prime minister said a target of electrification of 560 villages in Mianwali district had been set, of which 530 were getting electricity supply and the remaining would get it before the end of the year.

He said one-third of the country’s population was dependent on agriculture and it needed water for irrigation, so the government would construct dams at Kalabagh, Kuram tangi, Munda and Akhori, while work had been begun on Basha dam. The prime minister said the country was purchasing electricity from Iran for some areas of Balochistan.

He said the government had reduced prices of fertilisers and daily use items.

He said he would direct the Water and Power Development Authority to prefer the people of the district for jobs in the Jinnah hydropower project. He said China was providing financial and technical, assistance for the $128 million project.

The prime minister praised the Dong Fong Electric Corporation of China for implementation of the project and said it had played a pivotal role in construction of the Ghazi Barotha Dam.

He advised the firm to complete the project in three years— one year ahead of schedule.

Water and Power Minister Liaquat Jatoi and Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool also spoke, while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi and the district government boycotted the event.