Country needs big reservoirs for sustainable economic development, Tariq Hussain, World Bank Adviser to government of Pakistan said on Friday. He stated this in a lecture "Capacity Building for Water Resources in Pakistan" at the Faculty of Dadabhoy Institute of Higher Education.
In order to store water for Rabi and Kharif crops the country should have taken immediate measures, he said. He said that agriculture contributes about 23 percent to the GDP and it was predicted that this share would reduce to 10 by 2025.
Tariq Hussain, who is preparing a feasibility study of Bhasha Dam, said that Bhasha Dam would provide extra life to Tarbela Dam. Latest studies provided that glaciers are receding and rivers which dependent on glaciers would be flooded for 40 years. After the span of this time there would be no extra water for rivers so more conflicts would arise, he said.
Hussain said that big dams would provide sufficient water storage capacity and the country could able to produce hydropower electricity up to 40,983 MW. He said that conflict in opinion was a natural phenomenon. The need of the time was to address such issues on priority basis, he added. He said that availability of water for per person reduced from 5,000 MAF to 1,000 MAF and this was credit to population growth.
He stressed that 'trust deficit' should be removed because an environment had to be created where all the four provinces realised the present challenge of water scarcity.
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