LAKKI MARWAT: Commending the government’s decision to launch work on the first phase of Kurrum Tangi dam project in the next couple of days, district nazim Ishfaq Ahmad Khan Meenakhel has said that the dam project is vital for the development of the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Talking to Dawn on Friday, he said the project was materialised thanks to the strenuous efforts by Saifullah brothers. He said the dam had been the longstanding demand of the area people. “Senior parliamentarian Humayun Saifullah Khan began making efforts two decades ago aimed at constructing the Kurram Tangi dam to bring a green revolution in the southern belt of KP,” Mr Meenakhel claimed. He termed the dam a project of national importance and said that it would change the fate of the poor people for the better.
The district nazim asked the tribesmen of North Waziristan Agency to not oppose the project as it would also bring development to their militancy-hit tribal district. He said like residents of settled districts the tribal people would also reap the fruits of the dam.
“The Kurrum Tangi dam will help ensure round the year water flow in Marwat Canal, thus helping to turn fertile the arid and barren land,” he maintained, saying the dam had the capacity to provide sufficient water for irrigating over 350,000 acres of land in Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Karak districts and North Waziristan Agency.
He said that the residents of southern districts and adjacent tribal regions would get rid of the problems of water scarcity for drinking and irrigation purposes.
The district nazim revealed that the dam would also generate 84 megawatt electricity which would help overcome power crisis and electricity related problems in the entire region.
“The dam will boost socioeconomic activities and raise the living standard of people by alleviating poverty and eliminating their deprivations,” he added.
The nazim demanded of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce a mega uplift package for the southern districts of KP so that backwardness and deprivations of people could be removed.
Published in Dawn December 31st, 2016