PESHAWAR, Nov 1: NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah on Friday inaugurated work on the construction of a small dam, about 6km from Latambar, on the Karak-Bannu Road in the Karak district.

The project, which is designed to provide drinking water to the people of Karak, besides irrigating 3,300 acres, is estimated to cost Rs115 million. The project will be completed in six months.

Speaking at a public meeting on this occasion, the governor said that under the Drought Emergency Relief Programme, which provides Rs1.5 billion to meet the drought challenge, feasibility studies for the construction of four more small dams were already in progress and the work would be taken in hand soon.

He disclosed that Rs6 billion would be spent on the uplift of rain-fed areas in the province under the Barani Area Development Project. Of this allocation, about 50 per cent would go towards the water resource development sector, he added.

On the occasion, the governor announced that work on another dam at Pail in Karak would begin soon to provide drinking water to the area people.

He said that work on the Pehuer High Level Canal Project in the Swabi district was near completion.