ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has deplored that the country has suffered huge economic loss owing to the negligence of not constructing water dams.
While addressing as chief guest at an International Symposium on Hydropower Development in Pakistan on Monday, the premier said that China has constructed 5,000 dams, but Pakistan had built only two dams in 1960.
The prime minister added that due to this negligence, the country suffered losses because when fuel prices increase in the international market, price of electricity and other things also increases in Pakistan.
Consequently, the people have to bear the burden, he added. The prime minister said that there is inflation in the country because hike in the prices of electricity increases the cost of everything. “If the country would have been making electricity through water – hydropower – there would not have been inflation of this level.”
PM for timely completion of water-reservoir projects
He said that unfortunately, this was happening because of absence of long-term planning. He said the long-term planning of China is behind its economic strength. He said that his government’s planning was not election specific but was about long-term for the benefit of the country and this has been the precise reason that a “decade of dams” is being celebrated. He said that the present government’s consideration was that the country needed water storage to meet the needs of the growing population. “We have to cultivate more land and water storage is critical for it.”
The premier said that there is huge land in DI Khan besides hundreds of thousand-acre barren land in Balochistan. He said that that ‘10-year dams’ would double the water storage and help cultivate the barren land besides dealing with climate change issue by producing clean energy through water.
“We are also producing cadres of engineering,” he said, adding that tunnel technology is very important for promotion of tourism. He said that Switzerland has made its mountain accessible for tourism through tunnel technology.
The prime minister said that there is no doubt that the country needed water storage and Kalabagh dam is at a very good site for this purpose. However, there is a need to convince the people of Sindh on the Kalabagh dam that its construction would not have any adverse impact on Sindh’s water. About a recent meeting of the opposition parties with the government allies, the prime minister said that the PTI is not afraid of these meetings and those who are afraid have suddenly reminded about Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain’s health. The primer said that Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain’s political skills are unmatchable. “We have full trust on Shujaat family,” he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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