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PESHAWAR, Jul 24 (APP):An important meeting of Irrigation department was held here at Chief Minister’s House on Wednesday with Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur in the chair.
Provincial Minister for Irrigation Aqibullah Khan, Principal Secretary to CM Amjad Ali Khan, Special Secretary to CM Waqar Ali Khan, Secretary Irrigation Tahir Orakzai and other relevant officials attended the meeting.
The meeting took a detailed review of Small Dams projects being executed in the province. The participants were also briefed about the proposed potential projects, issues and impediments hindering the progress of certain projects and future course of action in this regard.
It was informed in the meeting that a total of 56 small dams have been completed in the province having a total storage capacity of 281410 acre feet and cultivable command area of 312263 acres. Similarly, work on 30 Small Dams projects is also in progress.
These projects would be completed at an estimated cost of Rs.43.6 billion. As many as 14 Small Dam projects including Khattak Banda Dam Kohat, Makh Banda Dam Karak, Latambar Dam Karak, Jaroba Dam Nowshera, Pezu Dam Lakki Marwat and others are near to completion and would be completed this year. These projects once completed would cultivate an area of 34000 acres cumulatively, the authorities told.
The chief minister has directed the authorities concerned for speedy completion of the priority small dams projects, directing the finance department that funds required for this purpose be released on priority basis.
The projects which are near to completion should be completed and operationalized on the very first priority, adding that no delay or negligence would be allowed in this regard. He also directed them to come up with a viable strategy in order to ensure that other ongoing projects are completed within the stipulated timelines.
He said that small dam projects are of vital importance for agriculture development and food security of the province. He further directed that SNEs should be approved for the projects with 90% physical progress so as to ensure safety of their infrastructure.
He also gave go ahead to carry out feasibility studies for new small dams projects at suitable sites of the province. He underlined the need to further strengthen the Small Dams Directorate and directed that additional two Directors and necessary allied staff be deployed for this purpose.