ISLAMABAD, April 17: The federal government has hired the services of the Pakistan Army for monitoring the implementation of the proposed Rs71.2 billion "National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses" project in Pakistan.

Official sources told Dawn here on Saturday that the army's involvement was approved by President Gen Pervez Musharraf at the request of the ministry of food, agriculture and livestock to ensure completion of the project in the next four years.

The project envisages improvement of 87,000 watercourses throughout the country, including 28,000 in Punjab, 29,000 in Sindh, 10,000 in the NWFP, 16,463 in Balochistan, 1,600 in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, 600 in the Federally Administered Northern Area, 1,000 in Azad Jummu & Kashmir and 337 in Islamabad Capital Territory.

Sources said that it had also been decided that the district governments will be involved in the implementation of the programme at the district level.

A committee has been constituted to meet regularly to report progress to the higher authorities. It includes minister for food and agriculture, secretary food, secretary ministry of finance, secretary planning and development division, engineering chief, Pakistan Army representative and Mr Jehangir Tareen, MNA.

The committee has held a couple of meetings.

The main objective of the project is to effectively and efficiently utilize the available water at the farm level for enhancing productivity of scarce irrigation resources by accelerating improvements of the watercourses.

There has been a severe water shortage in the country and persistent drought during the last four years has further aggravated the situation, adversely affecting the agriculture sector.

Officials said that the implementation of the proposed project would result in a saving of about 25 per cent water diverted into the watercourses. As a result, 15 to 17 per cent crop yield is expected to increase in the command area of improved watercourses.

With the completion of the project, cropping intensity will increase by 5 to 20 per cent and will also help reduce waterlogging and salinity to the extent of 10 per cent.