LAHORE, Aug 19: The PPP government is committed to early completion of the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, which can generate 4,500MW of cheap hydel electricity and provide over six million acre feet of water for agriculture.

In a statement issued here, central leader of the PPP Munir Ahmad Khan said that dam would be completed with or without foreign funding. Precisely for this reason, the PPP had the project approved from the ECNEC in 2009.

It has already started earmarking money for it, and started acquiring land for the project. The PC-I for the by-pass road, which is prerequisite for the dam construction, has already been approved at a cost of Rs3.8 billion. On the recommendation of the lenders, the PPP government got the project approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and also from the Central Development Work party (CDWP). On top of it all, the prime minister performed ground breaking of the project on October 18, 2011, Khan said.

All these steps showed the government’s seriousness for the project and sincerity of purpose, he insisted and added: “The project is vital for the country and the government will build it come what may – whether the lenders come to help construct the dam or not, because the government knows that the dam will benefit the country through cheap hydel electricity and irrigation besides returning the entire cost within eight years.”