LAHORE, Jan 23: Dispelling the general impression that Kalabagh dam project has been abandoned with the announcement of the construction of Bhasha and Munda dams, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani said here on Monday that KBD would be completed by 2016.

At a news conference here, he said keeping in mind the period required to complete the project, it could be easily calculated when the construction work would begin.

He said the cabinet had approved five dams, and KBD was among them.

When his attention was drawn to MQM leader Altaf Husain’s claim that KBD would not be set up during his lifetime, the special assistant said everybody had the right to have any opinion on any subject. He said the cabinet had approved the project and thus it would be executed.

Answering a question, Durrani said it was wrong to say that various constitutional bodies had been bypassed in the announcement of the two dams. He said the dams had been approved by the cabinet after a debate by both houses of parliament. He said the Water Vision approved by the cabinet had been adopted by President Musharraf and the four chief ministers had also endorsed the cabinet decision.

Senator Durrani said the government had laid the foundation of a prosperous Pakistan, making it difficult for the opposition parties to advance their political agenda on the basis of the dams issue. A number of political forces, he said, had received a setback because of the cabinet decision on dams and results of the 2007 general elections would show how important the initiative was for the ruling party.

He was critical of the PPP’s stand on the KBD, saying it had one point of view in one province and quite the other elsewhere. He said the Punjab PPP leaders should resign because of the party’s contradictory stands on the same subject.

Senator Durrani said the Bajaur incident was condemnable and the government had shown strong reaction against it. President Musharraf had slated it as also the federal cabinet, and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had repeatedly spoken against it on various fora during his current visit to the United States.

He said in such a situation it was rather unfair on the part of the opposition to politicize the matter. In his opinion, it was better for the opposition to add its voice to that of the government, which was representative of the public sentiment. He supported the idea of the Jan 29 marathon in the city, saying it was part of the healthy activities which would depict a positive image of the country.

Asked whether it would be a mixed marathon, he said it would be like one nobody would have any objection against. “Our children will also take part in it.”

He said the Balochistan problem was being addressed in a right way. Development projects worth Rs140 billion would change the outlook of Balochistan and remove the sense of deprivation among the people.

He said the law and order situation in the province would improve as a result of measures being taken by the government. He alleged that a foreign hand was involved in the situation, which was condemnable.

Senator Durrani praised the performance of the Punjab government in all sectors and said Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi was setting examples for others to follow.