ISLAMABAD, July 18 (Online Int’l): The Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) Chairman Mian Nauman Kabir has welcomed the start of construction work on the 4,500MW Diamer Bhasha Dam. After witnessing four inaugurations by four prime ministers in four decades, he hopes that the dam first envisaged in 1980 and which would be Pakistan’s biggest dam won’t be delayed now and will be completed in its stipulated time period.
“It’s unfortunate that the world’s highest roller compacted concrete dam has seen four openings by four elected prime ministers, including PM Shaukat Aziz, PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, PM Nawaz Sharif and now PM Imran Khan, taking more than 40 years for construction to finally kick off”, he said.
In a joint statement with senior Senior Vice-Chairman Nasir Hameed and Vice-Chairman Javed Iqbal, he said that the dam first envisaged in 1980 was approved for construction in 2006 by then military ruler Pervez Musharraf who had said: “Water and energy are matters of life and death for us. We have to build all the dams.” However it took almost another 14 years to initiate construction work after its first construction approval.
Mian Nauman suggested that the government should also include more hydropower projects in its plan including the Kalabagh Dam, as the country cannot afford to rely on costly and anti-environment fossil fuels.
“PIAF is hopeful that the hydel power project, which would generate 4,500 MW of affordable, clean energy, boosting local industry and also creating more than 16,000 jobs in the country, will be completed within its time frame in 2028 and will not be delayed like several other hydro power projects in the country”, he stated. It’s good news for the public in general and the business community in particular, as the new project would enable the country to move towards cheaper and greener power, inviting investment of billions of dollars, besides generating local job opportunities, he added.
Mian Nauman Kabir emphasized the importance of dams, stating that over 20 million acres of barren land can be brought under cultivation if water is made available by developing water storages in the country. Senior Vice-Chairman Nasir Hameed said that with the construction of dams, the country can strengthen its agriculture to attain food security and cope with the fast growing needs of water in domestic and industrial sectors besides injecting sizeable low-cost hydroelectricity into the national grid to stabilize the national economy.
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