Sindh government has planned to construct more than 200 small dams in the province and federal government would release around Rs 180 million this year to materialise the project.
Feasibility work was under way for constructing initially at least 50 small dams in Tharparkar district to bring "Green Revolution" in the province, official sources in Irrigation and Power Department, Government of Sindh told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
"Study is under way and Sindh government would soon submit PC-I (project cost) to the federal government in this regard", they added. They said that a body namely Small Dams Organisation (SDO) had already been established, which would supervise the dams-making process in the province.
In the current fiscal year 2007-08, the federal government had allocated Rs 12 billion for completion of the project, but it wanted 50 percent (Rs six billion) of the amount to be contributed by the provincial government, sources said.
"We are in talks with the federal government to withdraw its demand of a 50 percent share by Sindh and hopefully we would get fruitful results", they hoped.
Sources said the project would be completed in different phases and Sindh government in the first phase would build at least 10-12 small dams in Karoonjhar, Tharparkar "to recharge the underground water table". "A great quantity of rainwater flowing from Thar falls into the Arabian Sea every year and goes in wastage, we want that water to be stored", they said, adding that "Tharparkar has been given the priority because it has deserts where we would be able to store the rainwater".
The ocean of sand in Tharparkar, sources said, would suck the rainwater, which would later be pumped and used for the irrigation purpose. Asked if there was a plan to generate electricity from the proposed small dams, sources said that nothing could be said at this stage. "As we don't know how much rains we would have in future naturally, we cannot have a plan to think for the power generation", they added.
Commenting on the affects of current monsoon rain on the country's irrigation system, they said with some damages in urban areas, heavy rains remained favourable for the agricultural sector.
"The overall impact of current monsoon rains on the country's agriculture sector is good and we can hope for a green revolution in Sindh if it persists in the years to come", they said.
It is worth mentioning here that the current torrential rains and the resultant floods have killed as many as 96 people in Karachi alone, while at least 35 in different parts of the Sindh till August 22. Figures for the injured stand at as low as 102.
Other districts, where the rains turned deadly, included Thatta, Kamber-Shahdadkot, Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Tharparkar, Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas where the death toll stood at 5, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 1 and 1 respectively. Speedy floodwaters from Balochistan have also left millions of people displaced, hundreds of villages submerged, thousands of houses damaged, and crops worth billions of rupees destroyed in Sindh.