Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has declared that construction work on Chashma canal lift project will be initiated in the next financial year.
Talking to elected representatives from southern districts of the province at the CM’s House on Thursday, Khattak said that the project would cost Rs 121 billion which would irrigate 2,46,140 acres of land and its total length would be 528 miles, while it would benefit 0.25 million people of 19 villages.
Senior Provincial Minister for Irrigation Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, Minister for Revenue Ali Amin Gandapur, and Special Assistant for Transport Malik Shah Muhammad Wazir, MPA Ihtesham, Irrigation Secretary Akhter Rasheed and Chashma Canal Lift project focal person Muhammad Iqbal Khalil were present on the occasion.
The chief minister said, “It was the result of collective struggle of the provincial political leadership which got the project approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) after 15 years.”
He said that after the completion of the project the province would be in a position to utilise its due share of water, adding that the federal government had sponsored different projects in the other three provinces but KP remained deprived of any such development projects.
Khattak clarified that according to the agreement, the provincial government would provide 35 per cent resources for the project while the remaining 65 per cent would be funded by the federal government.
The Chashma canal lift would have a capacity of 2,613 cusecs of water.
