HYDERABAD, Feb 27: The Federal Flood Commission had recently approved 26 flood protection projects which would cost Rs387.466 million.

A Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority spokesman told Dawn on Friday that 10 projects which would cost Rs280.260 million would be carried out in Sindh to protect the vital installations on both sides of the River Indus.

They included strengthening of Dilwaro, Ranvati, Qadirpur loop bunds in Ghotki district and Baiji bund in Sukkur district. The spokesman said the projects would provide flood protection to the vital installations including the main railway line, National Highway, Qadirpur Gas Field, Engro Chemicals, Pak- Saudi Fertilizer Factory, Pano Akil Cantonment, irrigation system infrastructure and the main settlements Dahraki, Mirpur Mathelo, Ghotki, Pano Aakil and Rohri.

The other eight schemes are located on the right bank of River Indus between Guddu and Sukkur barrages. They are aimed at strengthening Ghouspur loop, Khair Wah and Sukkur Begari bunds.

These schemes would provide protection to vital instalments the Pak-Arab Refinery Oil Depot, Indus Highway, Peshawar-Karachi railway line, irrigation system and the main settlements including Ghouspur, Karampur, Khanpur, Shikarpur, Chak, Lakhi and Sukkur.

The Sida managing director has been nominated by the Sindh government as the provincial coordinator for these schemes. The spokesman said 10 schemes and three other flood protection schemes which would cost a total amount of Rs320.219 million would be completed before the current flood season.

He said the projects were part of 20 schemes cleared by the Indus River Commission earlier and the provincial development working party. He said in addition to this the feasibility and other preliminary work in case of eight new schemes of flood protection costing Rs965.63 million was also in progress.

These schemes would be presented in the meeting of FFC's Scrutinising Commission for approval. The spokesman said 75 per cent of funds for these projects would be provided by the Asian Development Bank while 25 per cent of the remaining funds would be provided by the federal government.

Of the new eight schemes for which feasibility studies are at various stages, five are located upstream the Guddu barrage, three of which are vital for the safety of the barrage.

Out of the remaining three schemes, two are hill torrent area schemes of Dadu district, which are aimed at providing flood protection against hill torrents and recharging of rainfall run- off to Manchhar Lake. The third is the Thatta-Sujawal bridge scheme aimed at regulating the river flow to ensure the safety of the bridge.