ISLAMABAD - The government would spend $ 22 billion to build water reservoirs to overcome energy shortage, newly appointed Head of Infrastructure Project Development Facility, Ghulam Murtaza Satti said here Saturday. However, Ghulam Murtaza Satti did not give any detail as to how the government would spend money, from where it would get the said money and how much time it would take to build these reservoirs and overcome energy shortage. Talking about the domestic power needs, he said that in the current environment of high oil prices, Pakistan urgently needs to exploit its hydropower potential estimated at 40,000MW while currently only 15 per cent of that have been exploited. "Presently the country is in dire need of significant investments in infrastructure specifically energy and water to sustain its recent economic growth in future," Murtaza Satti said. "These projects would put a substantial burden on public sector alone and in consequence the government has decided to explore alternative financing options that include using private sector investments to ease the budgetary constraints," he added. He said that the main objectives of the government behind launching these projects are to enhance water availability for irrigation, generate cheap electricity, optimize water resources, develop Indus Basin Irrigation System and overcome energy and water shortages. He said that the IPDF was also in the process of creating Multi-purpose Water Reservoir Financing Cell to focus on the project structuring and financing of multi-purpose water reservoirs and to build an enabling framework for private sector participation in these projects.