Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Ellahi has said that Pakistan needs 15 MAF additional reservoir capacity of water up to year 2025, therefore, there is a need for constructing not only one but three large dams to conserve up to 20 MAF water.While addressing a meeting on increasing agriculture productivity and solving irrigation problems in the province here on Monday, Pervaiz opined that all the large dams, which are under planning, should be launched simultaneously. He said construction of new water reservoirs is a must to solve problems facing the national agriculture.
Provincial Food Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal, Chief Secretary Kamran Rasool and other high-ranking officers were also present on the occasion.
The chief minister said that Pakistan has been facing serious water shortage for the last four years, primarily because its two large reservoirs, Tarbela and Mangla have lost 25 percent of its storage capacity due to silt. As a result of which, Pakistani farmers have, in the late Rabi and early Kharif period, faced a shortage of 30 percent which affected wheat output by one million tones and will affect cotton and rice production, he added.
The greatest danger facing the agriculture economy today is that Tarbela and Mangla are for below its planned filling levels, he maintained. He said it is regrettable that Pakistan is facing these extreme shortages, despite the fact that in the last monsoon period, 21 MAF, which is equal to 3 Tarbela dams, flowed into sea due to our limited reservoir capacity.
The failure of previous governments to redress this issue is the cause of economic stress and additional poverty in the rural areas of Pakistan.
He also said that tributes should be paid to the sagacity and vision of President General Pervez Musharraf for placing highest priority on the construction of reservoirs.
He said that he would also like to recognise the maturity shown by the Chief ministers of all the provinces in recognising the water crisis and recommending by consensus the need for construction of new large reservoirs in the meeting held on July 20, 2004.