Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) would launch a foreign- funded mega project under Water Sector Improvement Programme (WSIP) worth Rs 10 billion.
The programme has already been approved by Central Development Working Party and after approval from Executive Committee of National Economic Council, the programme would hopefully be executed from July, Sida Managing Director Muhammad Hashim Leghari said at a news conference here on Tuesday.
He said under WISP 173 distributaries, 28 branch canals and seven main canals would be rehabilitated and it would be beneficial for around 1.837 million hectares of land.
Giving details of different projects being executed by Sida, the newly appointed Managing Director said a total of 30 minors had been rehabilitated by Sida under its On-Farm Management Programme, while work on remaining 70 minors was being carried out at full pace.
Under the programme, the rehabilitation of 12 out of 25 branch canals was also being executed, he added. Besides, he said flood protection embankments were also being strengthened in Sindh, while the World Bank had also released funds for rehabilitation of those vulnerable points of LBOD, where breaches occurred during last year's monsoon rains in Mirpurkhas and in Badin district in 2003.
Under National Drainage Programme, he said that an amount of Rs 571 million would be spent on rehabilitation of 46 main canals including Akram Wah.
He said the Sindh government had granted Rs 130 million for expenditures on LBOD, of which 95 percent work had been completed. A contingency plan had also been prepared by Sida to meet any eventuality during expected heavy rainfalls in the monsoon season, he said and expressed the hope that in coming monsoon no such devastation would be witnessed in LBOD.
Under social mobilisation process, the Sida MD informed that office-bearers of Farmers' Organisations were being trained, adding that under On-Farm Management Programme, a total of 100 Farmers' Organisations had been formed.
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