SWABI, Jan 14: The Turkish construction firm, STFA, has picked up its machinery after the completion and successful testing of the Pehur High Level Canal (PHLC).

Sources told Dawn here on Wednesday that some parts of the canal, where cracks had appeared, had been repaired and water released into the canal.

During the testing period, the sources said, all the small leakages had been plugged. The canal has now been handed over to the NWFP irrigation department. The peasants have already started cultivation of their crops by the PHLC water, the sources said.

The Turkish firm has secured a contract in Muscat and a number of technical Pakistanis who worked with it in the canal project have been provided free-of-cost visa to work there, the sources said.

For one year, the Turkish firm's office at Tarbela Dam would remain open and be responsible for carrying out repairs if such a need arose, according to the terms of the agreement. The provincial irrigation department would take care of the canal afterwards.

The cost of the PHLC came to Rs6,460 million. The Asian Development Bank financed it up to 83 per cent while the remaining 17 per cent was arranged by the NWFP government.

The formal inauguration of the project is now overdue. Initially it was expected that the prime minister would come to do the opening, but he did not, the source said, adding no one can predict who will come for the purpose and when.

The construction of PHLC was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in May 1998 and it was completed in 2003, about one year late than scheduled. The delay was caused by the American war against Taliban. During that period, all construction activities remained stalled.