Will construct 10 dams in 10 years for safe future, PM Imran Khan says

SWABI: If we can save water by reserving it in dams we can have our farmers use it for irrigation throughout the year, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday as he addressed the ceremony of inaugurating Tarbela Dam’s fifth extension, ARY News reported.

I am planning on constructing 10 dams in 10 years to save the water for generations to come, the PM said, adding that about 80 per cent of our river water is only available for three- to four years.

We have not planned anything in this country for a long time and governments only chart our election-to-election policies that has destroyed our system, Imran Khan told the audience.

He said the world is facing unprecedented environmental challenges never thought of before with catastrophic forest fires and floods wiping human lives and establishments off and raising alarms with rising global temperature.

We will save water for our future generations so they are safe, he said. The PM also said that since the country does not have cheaper power because it did not produce electricity using water as a resource.

PM arrives in Swabi to inaugurate 5th extension project of Tarbela Dam

The PM arrived at the Tarbela dam site earlier today to lay the foundation stone of its fifth extension project valuing at US$807 million with financial assistance from the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in order to protect the dam from being marred by mud.

The extension project will have been completed within a small span of three years, by 2024, and its purpose is to pump into it required water reserve so to avoid mud from taking over the space and contaminating water.

The project is likely to perpetuate the availability and supply of water for irrigation purposes and will generate 1,530-megawatt green energy. This can provide the national grid with power worth Rs1.34 billion rupee every year. This is likely to take the total

It is also said that the new extension will provide for 3,000 employments.