ISLAMABAD July 25: Work on one of the two proposed major water reservoirs, Basha or Kalabagh, will begin during the current year, says Senator Nisar A. Memon, chairman of the special parliamentary committee on water.

He was speaking at a news conference here at the PML's headquarters on Sunday. He said that the committee had finalised its interim report, which would soon be presented to President Gen Pervez Musharraf at a briefing before a final decision was taken on starting the work on a major dam.

Mr Memon said that Rs8.1 billion had been allocated for small water reservoirs during the current year while Rs206.8 billion had been earmarked for the next five years for the construction of water reservoirs in all provinces.

The four provinces, he said, had agreed on the 1991 water distribution formula and construction of major water reservoirs because of the committee's eight-month long concerted efforts.

He said that the provinces had also been empowered to construct water reservoirs keeping in view their water requirements in addition to the large dams to be constructed by the federal government.

Mr Memon said that all provinces were unanimous on the construction of Basha dam but two provinces had reservations against Kalabagh dam. Criticizing bureaucrats for issuing statement on water- related issues, he said that they should abstain from issuing statements on the issue.

He deflected a question aimed at eliciting his personal views on the water shortage and said: "Being the chairman of the special parliamentary committee on water, I have no personal views. My views correspond with those of the (other members of the) committee".

He said that Gen Musharraf favoured the resolution of the water shortage crisis through dialogue among the people on the basis of social and economic realities, adding that he (Gen Musharraf) could have achieved the objective by issuing a single executive order.

He reminded that the water issue had been lingering since 1973 and said that several efforts had been made to resolve it. After the 1991 water accord, he said, provinces had failed to make any progress on the issue.

He said though the federal government wanted to take the provinces along before taking a final decision on the construction of Kalabagh dam despite the existence of a broader consensus on the issue.

He said Sindh had agreed to the construction of Basha dam, adding that along with the proposed Skardu dam, it would provide eight million acre-foot storage capacity besides a substantial increase in electricity generation capacity.