18,700 watercourses to be lined by June next

A total of 18,700 watercourses will be bricklined across the country during the current financial year. More attention is being paid to NWFP and Balochistan where 7,100 watercourses are to be bricklined. In Punjab, 5,000 and in Sindh 6,000 watercourses will be cemented. While 600 watercourses would be lined in other parts of the country, Radio Pakistan reported.
Every effort would be made to accommodate demands for bricklining of additional watercourses in the NWFP, Balochistan and Barani areas of Punjab. The project is part of four year National Programme for Improvement of 86,000 watercourses costing Rs 66 billion. Under the programme which began in 2004, so far Rs 30 billion have been spent on improvement of water courses in the four provinces, the report concluded.