Former WAPDA Chairman supports construction of Kalabagh dam

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LAHORE: Former Chairman WAPDA, Shamsul Mulk has said that Kalabagh Dam is a national issue and needs attention, denying the perception that it is just the issue of Punjab.
Shamsul Mulk said that his province has suffered the most, due to delay in construction of Kalabagh Dam, as recent floods that hit Nowshera resulted in the water level to reach 961 feet. This could have been avoided if Kalabagh dam had been built, as it would have kept the water level at only 880 feet.
Former Chairman WAPDA lashed at the dual standards adopted by western experts on environmental impact of large dams. He said the claim that Kalabagh dam, which has water storage capacity for 20 days, as an environmental disaster is not understandable, as in comparison dams built at Colorado in the United States posses the capacity to store water for 900 days.
Speaking in favor of construction of Kalabagh, he said building of Kalabagh would result in water availability for KP at affordable price. Being an engineer, he guaranteed that none of the areas of KP would be water logged after construction of Kalabagh dam, as it is not possible that lands situated at higher altitude could be water logged by the water flowing at lower levels.
Mulk termed the denial of Kalabagh dam as the greatest betrayal of our leaders. “We have damaged our water availability more than what India has done by withholding some water of our rivers” he added.
Pakistan posses the largest water drain system in the world, and it was difficult to understand how a “country with such natural resources is poor”, he said.
ENDS