LCCI hails CJP's vow of according priority to water issues

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Tuesday welcomed the action taken by the Supreme of Pakistan on water issues and Kalabagh Dam and termed it a ray of hope for Pakistani nation.
LCCI President Malik Tahir Javed said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has translated the wishes of over 200 million people and agriculture sector of Pakistan. In this regard, a campaign has been launched by the LCCI as well. Perhaps Pakistan is the only country around the globe where important water and power projects are being opposed that is unfortunate. Indian water aggression and our failure in building new water reservoirs have thrown country into the list of water-starved countries, he said. Those are guilty of the nation who is opposing Kalabagh Dam as research reports have warned that Pakistan will reach absolute water scarcity by the year 2025 if water reservoirs are not built, he added.
He said that perceptions against Kalabagh Dam are totally wrong and actually are a move to safeguard the interests of the enemies of Pakistan. He said that Kalabagh Dam would be equally beneficial for all provinces. Actually delay in construction of Kalabagh Dam is the one and only reason of water shortage in Sindh and other parts of the country. He said that water supply to Sindh was averaged 36.6 million acre feet annually before construction of Mangla and Terbala dams. This supply was enhanced to 40.30 million acre feet after building of these dams. He said that Kalabagh Dam will also supply over 4 million acre feet additional water to Sindh.
The LCCI president said that the Lahore Chamber had already feared that water crisis would hit the agriculture sector of the country due to lack of sufficient water storage facilities while water storage capacity in Terbela and Mangla dams has considerably gone down. Therefore, Kalabagh Dam is a must for the country. "It would be better if anti-Kalabagh elements play role for early construction of this mega project instead of fueling the provincial conflict otherwise our future generations would suffer" he added.
The LCCI President said that the Kalabagh Dam is inevitable for the progress and prosperity of the country as it will produce power at an average cost of Rs 2/kwh. This cheap power will annually displace costly power worth approximately Rs 300 billion with consequential savings of costly oil imports. He said that there was no threat to Nowshehra city as it is 150 feet above the water level.