ISLAMABAD, March 16: The World Bank has approved a $123 million loan to Pakistan to rehabilitate the Taunsa Barrage on the River Indus whose structure had been damaged owing to soil erosions and old-age. Taunsa barrage provides irrigation for two million acres and drinking water in the rural areas of southern Punjab, benefiting several million farmers. An official statement of the World Bank said agriculture was the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and one of the key engines of economic growth which contributed about 25 per cent to the GDP, employed nearly 50 per cent of rural labour force, and was responsible for over 60 per cent of exports.

Around 80 per cent of Pakistan’s arable lands and 90 per cent of agricultural output depend on irrigation. Barrages in the Indus Basin are vital part of the irrigation network.

Their main purpose is to divert water from the rivers into canals serving vast areas of irrigated land.

“The main problems encountered in the old barrages are erosion at the downstream toe and deterioration of the concrete floor, due in part to changes in river hydrology and old age,” said Xiaokai Li, senior water resources specialist of the World Bank.

The Taunsa Barrage was completed in 1958, and it has been identified as the barrage with the highest priority for rehabilitation. It requires urgent measures to avoid severe economic and social impacts on the lives of millions of poor farmers through interruption of irrigation on millions of acres of irrigated land, he said.

The project will ensure irrigation of the cultivated lands in the area of the Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan canals, and through the Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canal that supplements the water supply to Panjnad headworks canals.

“This is the beginning of the rehabilitation of Punjab’s entire irrigation system, one of the largest in the world,” said John Wall, country director.