LAHORE, March 30: In response to the March 26 Dawn report on Kachhi Canal, the Ministry of Water and Power has sent the following statement:

“The PC-II of Kachhi Canal Project costing Rs170 million has been approved by the CDWP in its meeting held on 19-09-2002 on self-finance basis by Wapda. The activities like investigation, strip survey, engineering design and tender documents etc are being carried out.

“The PC-I of the project costing Rs 32,450 million has been received by Planning Commission on March 15, 2003 and is under circulation to various provinces and concerned sections for in-depth scrutiny and will be processed on priority basis.

Moreover, the project is included in the PSDP 2002-03 and an anticipatory approval of the chairman, ECNEC, has been granted to carry out essential works.

“Neither the activities are being carried out without approval nor Planning Commission is taking time to process the PC-I,” it concluded.