PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Irrigation Arshad Ayub has termed Kalabagh dam a “controversial” project, saying that the federal government has to remove the reservations of Balochistan, KP and Sindh.
Addressing a news conference, the minister has said that the prime minister has earlier said that provincial consensus is must as the three provinces have still technical objections over the dam structure that must the resolved.
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Talking about the Chashama left Bank Canal, the minister said that the design of the important project would be completed in March and the project will be made part of the next financial year for which 65% financial resources will be provided by the center and 35% by the province. He said that to mainstream the tribal districts, KP and Punjab is giving 3% share of their national finance award to the tribal districts however Sindh and Balochistan are not providing such financial support.
The Kalbagh Dam is one of the most controversial project in the history of Pakistan. Proponents of the dam claim that opposition to the province is solely on political grounds and that technically its construction is unlikely to harm any province. But anti-dam political parties say it is detrimental to KP, Balochistan and Sindh. They believe that it will not only harm the three provinces but it is also against the security and unity of Pakistan.
On 17 February, the Awami National Party KP President Aimal Wali Khan has said that Kalabagh Dam construction will never be accepted. Reacting to the Federal Minister for Water Resources raising the issue of Kalabagh Dam, Aimal Wali Khan said that the Federal Minister of Punjab should remember that Pakistan is not only Punjab. He said that instead of wasting further time on resurrecting the Kalabagh dam issue, the federal government should focus on constructing dams to address the power shortage.