While almost eighth months of the current fiscal year have elapsed, the federal and Sindh governments are yet to decide about extent of sharing in the Rs 12 billion project of small dams construction in the province.
Rs 12 billion has been allocated for construction of hundreds of small dams in Sindh province in fiscal year 2007-08 under Public Sector Development Program (PSDP). But, since the beginning of the fiscal year officials both in Islamabad and Karachi have not been clear on their respective share of investment in the project, putting timely implementation of the project in jeopardy.
An official in Sindh Agriculture Department on Monday said: "We want the federal government to contribute 100 percent of the allocated Rs 12 billion as the project is somehow concerned with poverty alleviation, which is solely financed by the Centre."
He said the federal government had, in the recent past, conceptually agreed to release the funds on condition that 50 percent share should come from the province. "The federal government wants Sindh to contribute 50 percent (Rs 6 billion) in the allocated Rs 12 billion," he added.
He said that Sindh government had sent proposal to Islamabad for constructing some 60 small dams, but the latter had asked for feasibility reports of the proposed dams, one by one.
Negotiations, on the fate of investment to be made by the two sides would be held after submission of feasibility reports of the proposed small dams by the Sindh government. "We will negotiate the matter with federal government and hope that we would be able to convince them on our point," said the official.
When asked if the provincial government had some flexibility on its demand from the federal government the official replied: "Let's see what percentage they come up with... it may be 75 percent or more or less than that."
The plan is to construct more than 200 small dams and is almost done with preparing feasibility reports for initially building around 50 small reservoirs on different rivers in Tharparkar and others to bring "green revolution" in the province.
After completion of the project, to be supervised by Small Dams Organisation (SDO), the Sindh government would be able to preserve some 0.3 million acre-feet water underground. Rivers on which construction of small reservoirs is intended include Thado, Malir, Garoja, Baran and others flowing in Rajhistan and Tharparkar, the official said.
The Rs 12 billion project primarily aims at "recharging the underground water table." The official said: "A great quantity of rainwater flowing from Thar falls into the Arabian Sea every year and goes waste. We want that water to be stored." He added that Tharparkar has been prioritised due to its deserted land which is a natural choice for storing rainwater. The official said that the "ocean of sand" in Tharparkar would suck the rainwater, which would later be pumped and used for the irrigation purpose.