KARACHI: Huge floods have once again battered the country as our ruler didn’t learn any lesson from previous mistakes; making it imperative now to build new flood canals and reservoirs in every part of the country on emergency basis, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.
He said the floods have become a national threat now and building new flood canals and dams has now become our national security priority. He said building flood canals and dams now is not a political slogan, but instead a critical necessity to mitigate flooding that cause losses in trillions of rupees and further weaken our socio-economic stability.
He said Pakistan’s existential relationship with the Indus River system is a double-edged sword; while it is the source of life for the country’s agriculture and population, it is also the source of recurrent, catastrophic floods. He said the increasing frequency and intensity of these floods, as starkly evidenced in 2010, 2011, 2012, and the devastating deluge of 2022, demonstrate that existing infrastructure and management strategies are woefully inadequate.
He said the construction of new, multi-purpose dams and dedicated flood reservoirs is not merely an option; it is an urgent national security imperative. He said floods displace millions, destroy homes, and claim lives. Effective flood control infrastructure would provide a primary layer of defense, directly safeguarding the lives, property, and livelihoods of the tens of millions of Pakistanis living in the flood plains of the Indus.
Altaf Shakoor said that the economic cost of repeated floods runs into trillions of dollars destroying crops, washing away infrastructure like roads, bridges, railways, and halting economic activity. An investment in dams is an investment in preventing these recurring losses.
He warned that climate change is making Pakistan’s weather patterns more extreme, with more intense rainfall and faster glacial melt. Large reservoirs are one of the most effective tools for climate adaptation, providing the necessary infrastructure to manage these extremes; storing excess water in times of surplus for use in times of scarcity.
He said now the question is not whether Pakistan can afford to build new dams and reservoirs; it is whether Pakistan can afford not to. The annual cycle of flood-driven destruction represents an unsustainable drain on the nation’s lives, economy, and future.
The construction of strategic water storage infrastructure, particularly new small and medium sized dams, flood canals and diversion canals, must be elevated to the status of a national mission. It requires political consensus, prioritization in national planning, and efficient execution. The cost of construction pales in comparison to the recurring cost of inaction. He said for a water-rich yet water-insecure nation, mastering the floodwaters through modern engineering is the only path to a secure and prosperous future.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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