ISLAMABAD - At least 64 dams with 52000 acres feet water storage capacity have been completed in Balochistan to irrigate 25850 acres of land. The federal government had announced 100 small dams package in Balochistan out of which 64 have been completed while rest of 36 are near completion, said an official of Balochistan government on Friday.

He said that the provincial government was taking measures to improve the ground water level for reducing the water problems that stretch throughout the province. The construction of dams helps reduce shortfall of water and bring the barren land under cultivation, he added.

The official said that the 100 dams project was consisted of five phases and in the first phase, 20 dams had been completed at a cost of Rs 2.4 billion, while in the second phase, 24 out 26 dams had been completed at a cost of Rs 4.4 billion. “In the third phase, 20 more dams were scheduled to be completed at a cost of Rs 7.6 billion. In the fourth and fifth phases, 23 and 11 dams will be completed by 2026,” he added. Around 60 to 65 percent work on the remaining dams has been completed,” he said, adding that no compromise would be made on the quality of construction.

 

Balochistan neither has canal system nor has underground resources of water and rain water is the only source of filling the dams, he expressed.