SUKKUR, April 25: The repair and rehabilitation work of the Sukkur Barrage has been completed five days ahead of the scheduled date of April 30. The work cost Rs125 million less than the federal government’s allocation of Rs887 million. This was announced by the commander of the Frontier Works Organization’s task force on Sukkur Barrage rehabilitation, Brig Javed Ashraf Bajwa, at a press conference here on Monday.

Accompanied by Sukkur Barrage chief engineer Mohammad Nawaz Memon and consultant Noor Mohammad Baloch, Brig Bajwa said maximum care had been taken with regard to quality control while filling cavities in Bays 1, 2 and 3 of the barrage.

He said the Sindh government had requested President Pervez Musharraf for handing over the rehabilitation work to the engineering corps of the Pakistan Army.

Brig Bajwa maintained that the work was of emergency nature because the pits could have caused a serious damage to the barrage’s structure. However, he said, the army accepted the challenge and completed the task five days before the scheduled time.

He said that in accordance with the guidelines and design provided by the consultant the work had been carried out in three phases and special attention paid to maintain quality.

He was confident that if the irrigation department ensured proper maintenance and repair of the barrage on an annual basis, its life would be extended by another 70 years. He observed that there was no threat to its structure.