Seminar on water, energy crises held

President of Pakistan Engineers Forum Engr Syed Imtiaz Hussain, Engr Najib Haroon, Engr Tahir Sultan, Engr Mansoor Siddique and Engr Khawaja Aurangzeb were of the view construction of more water reservoirs was need of the hour to irrigate the barren land and to generate the cheapest electricity, and progress should be made rapidly towards that most important sector of the country.
They said though a number of projects were running in the country to improve water availability especially for agriculture sector but construction of new big water reservoirs could not be denied by anyone. Delivering his speech at a seminar on "Water/Energy, Crisis & Role of Engineers" organised by Pakistan Engineers Forum and chaired by Engr Imtiaz Hussain Shah.
He said that Rs 15 billion were being spent on anti Kalabagh Dam movement and this easiest project was put in snag and an expensive project of Bhasha dam was started which would take time. He said besides construction of big dams, small dams also had importance. He said, construction of dams would not only fulfil water shortage in the country but would also help generate cheap electricity.
He said people of the country demanded construction of more dams in addition to Kalabagh and Bhasha dams without any further delay as the country direly needed more water resources. Advocating the construction of Kalabagh and Bhasha dams he said, it was imperative to speed up pace of economic development in the country. In view of looming threat of water shortage, emergent measures would have to be taken, he added. He said construction of new water reservoirs besides proper water management was need of the hour as the level of water was depleting in dams at an alarming rate. With the passage of time, water demand was increasing while availability was decreasing, as a result silting problem, existing capacity had adversely been affected, he added.
Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah said serious efforts were being made by the government in that regard, and it was trying to make a considerable development in that sector. But, still, there was a long way to go to meet the challenges, he added. He further said in the coming years country might face worst water shortage if the issue was not timely addressed and work on large reservoirs was not started. The political leaders though represent Pakistan but are serving the interests of India to sell electricity in near future instead emphasising to complete local energy projects. As per present pace of increasing electricity prices and decreasing hydel share in the total energy, the price of power would be Rs 30 per unit within coming three years. What happen is that India would complete its dams while the Pakistani leaders would remain asleep and in the end Pakistan will be buying electricity from India that is shameful for us as we have the same resources as our neighbour.