LAHORE, Dec 7: Caretaker Federal Minister for Water and Power Tariq Hamid on Friday instructed Wapda authorities to expedite its ongoing projects and complete Phase-I of Kachhi Canal and Rainee Canal projects by Dec 2008.

Addressing senior Wapda officials, he said the Kachhi Canal project was being constructed in phases and the first phase of the canal would facilitate irrigating over 100,000 acres of land in Dera Bugti district of Balochistan. The completion of phase-II and III were expected to complete by 2009 and 2010 respectively.

The Kachhi Canal is one of the priority projects being executed by Wapda under its Vision 2025 Programme with an estimated cost of Rs31 billion and was aimed at irrigating about 713,000 acres of land in Kachhi Plain of Balochistan.

The minister was told that the 175km Rainee Canal taking off from Guddu Barrage would feed 609-kilometre-long distributaries in Ghotki, Sukkur and Khairpur districts. The command area of the project is estimated to be 412,400 acres.

The minister said that both projects had immense importance for Balochistan and Sindh provinces, enabling them to draw their allocated share according to the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991. Both the projects would give tremendous impetus to agricultural and livestock production in the area, he added.

Earlier, Water General Manager (Central) Waseem Ahmad briefed the minister on Wapda’s ongoing projects.