SWABI, Oct 16: Work on the construction of three small dams in the district will be started soon as their feasibility report has been finalised.

During a briefing here on Saturday, Provincial Minister for Women Welfare Sitara Ayaz was told that the proposed dams would irrigate about 16,700 acres barren land in the district, especially in Gadoon Amazai mountainous region. The leaders of Awami National Party and officials of the irrigation department attended the briefing.

The main objectives of Kundal, Bada and Pabini dams are to irrigate the barren land and produce electricity for the residents of the district. All these projects are located in the mountainous regions of the Gadoon Amazai belt.

In addition, 4,300 acres infertile land of the district would be irrigated with the wideness of Pehur Canal, increasing total irrigated land in the district to 21,000 acres.

The officials said that the main problem for the farmers of the district was non-availability of water.

The problem would be solved after widening the canal and construction of the dams, they added. “Many infertile areas of the district need urgent attention. The government has been striving hard to bring more land under irrigation system to enable the people to cultivate different crops,” they said.

The government would be also able to control food shortage, which frequently hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when wheat supply was stopped by Punjab.

The minister said that government was working on various projects in the district as it wanted to fulfil the pledges made by ANP leaders with the people during the general elections. All the promises made with the people would be met, she added.

The minister also inaugurated work on construction of three-kilometre Baja-Kalabat Canal Road. The road would be completed at a cost of Rs14.5 million.

The project would be completed within one year. The minister said that various links and main roads in the district had already been constructed and widened while many more were in the pipeline.