ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: President Pervez Musharraf has said the nation must take a decision by consensus, without any further delay, to build as many water reservoirs as it could and take in hand the construction of at least one of the two dams — Kalabagh or Bhasha — by 2004 to meet the country’s water requirements for the next 50 years.

“If we fail to take a decision today our coming generations will never forgive us,” he declared.

Addressing the nation on television and radio on Saturday, President Pervez Musharraf appealed to the people and political leadership of Sindh and NWFP provinces in particular to support the construction of water reservoirs for the sustained economic growth of the country.

“To meet our water needs over the next 50 years we will have to construct four water reservoirs, namely Kalabagh, Bhasha, Skardu and Akhori dams, and must start work on them,” President Musharraf said.

He said some vested interests were instigating the people against these projects and spreading false and baseless reports about them.

“A purely technical issue has been turned into a political one. I want to resolve this issue through national consensus,” he said.

Declaring that by the end of current decade Pakistan would be facing an acute shortage of water both for irrigation and drinking purposes, the president said in order to avert this eventuality we would have to decide by next year which of the two dams — Kalabagh or Bhasha — could be undertaken as it would take at least ten years to build one of them.

President Musharraf dwelt at length on a host of water-related issues quoting figures about shortage of water and growing needs of the country’s agriculture sector, and said the betterment of all provinces was linked to Pakistan.

“All provinces have their future linked with the progress of Pakistan, therefore, we will have to develop trust and confidence in each other and do justice to one another,” he stated, regretting that the water issues had been politicized and doubts created.

He said feasibility study of Bhasha dam would be ready by next year, while feasibility studies for Akhori and Skardu dams were under way. He said 70 per cent of the country’s population lived in rural areas whose economic advancement depended on agricultural growth which in turn relied on availability of water.

“By 2050, we will have to have three or four large reservoirs, if we do not act now, there will be a shortage of drinking water, agriculture growth will suffer, the economy will be affected, and poverty will deepen further,” he argued.

President Musharraf also underscored the importance of construction of canals for the irrigation of barren lands. He held out a categorical assurance that all provinces would receive fair treatment in use of water.

“Our government did justice to all in the three years since we came to power in 1999, and I assure you that in future too, justice will be done to all,” he said.

The president, however, made it clear that Pakistan would not be allowed to suffer. He said anyone opposing a certain reservoir would have to come up with an alternate proposal to overcome the brewing water crisis.

Referring to the grievances of Sindh, the president said the province would suffer the most if the country failed to start constructing reservoirs now.

He asked the provincial leaders not to live in the past and look ahead to a brighter future.

“We cannot live in the past, I apologise for the wrongs done to any province by any one in the past and assure that all provinces will get just and fair treatment in future.”

The president also made a comparison between the Kalabagh dam and the Bhasha dam. He said the Kalabagh dam would have a capacity of 6.1 million acres of water (maf) as against 7.3 maf of the Bhasha dam. He said construction of the Kalabagh dam could be started next year, while work on Bhasha dam could be initiated in the year 2006. The former could be completed by the year 2011, while the latter in 2013.

Explaining various steps to allay Sindh’s apprehensions, the president said headquarters of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) had been shifted to Islamabad, although it was to remain in Lahore under the 1991 water accord.

He said the water distribution formula agreed in the 1991 accord could not be enforced because those parts of the accord which called for construction of reservoirs and water channels were not implemented in time.

Under clause 7, he said, 10 maf water was to be released downstream of Kotri to protect the Thatta district from sea intrusion, while an average of 3.5 maf in 23 years had been released, which meant that sufficient water was available for building of more reservoirs.

Under clause 9 of the 1991 water accord, he added, provinces were given the right to build their own water reservoirs.

Similarly, the annexture of the 1991 accord allowed construction of the Thal canal and other projects for storing water, he stated.

President Musharraf admitted that the 1991 water accord was sacrosanct and reverting to the formula in use until before 1991 by a ministerial committee was wrong but non-implementation of some of the main features of the 1991 accord was equally wrong.

Responding to the fears about the Thal canal, he said it was a flood canal and like the Kachi canal, it was passing through Balochistan.

“If we have dams then we will be able to release water according to our requirements. The Rainey canal being built for Balochistan passes through about 150 to 200km of Punjab,” he added.

Keeping in view silting of Tarbela and Mangla dams more canals would have to be built, he added.

The president admitted that Sindh had some genuine grievances about the treatment it had received in the past and he would like to apologise on behalf of all those responsible for these acts of injustice.

He said Rs350 million telemetry system had been installed at dams to remove doubts about distribution of water.