CHASHMA, Dec 28: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has warned against failure in construction of water storages, saying Pakistan will be loosing existing storage capacity of six million acre feet (MAF) by 2,010 and will be critically short of water availability with a gap of 1300MAF by 2,025.

Speaking at the first concrete pouring ceremony of Chashma-2, 30km off Mianwali, on Wednesday, the premier, without mentioning the Kalabagh dam, said: “Doing nothing is no more an option if we want to progress and move from low income to middle income countries.

He said the government was planning to produce 8,800mw of nuclear power in the next 25 years by establishing more nuclear power plants but that contribution would be mere eight per cent share of the total national electricity production by the year 2,030.

The Chashma-2, the second phase of the Chashma Power Plant is being built by the China National Nuclear Corporation and its subsidiaries which built and commissioned Chashma-1.

The ceremony was performed by the prime minister by pushing a bottom which heralded the start of pumping concrete into the huge nuclear island (5/65 meters thick layer below reactor) site of the Chashma-II and was keenly witnessed by the participants — including federal ministers, Chinese Energy Commission officials and international and national media people.

Mr Aziz said: “We recognize that to remain competitive and a fast growing economy in the rapidly globalizing world, water and energy security are critical. Therefore, we are aiming at constructing new water reservoirs following a consultative process to sustain high agriculture growth, ensure water supply for drinking and commercial use and generate hydropower.”

He said climate change as well as global warming and consequential phenomenon of desertification made it even more important to start the process of building dams now.

The premier said survival of Pakistan and competitiveness in the coming decades largely depended on substantially increasing the share of hydro and nuclear power in the overall electricity production.

“Our strategic direction for development of energy sector to ensure sustainable supply of energy includes: increased emphasis on nuclear energy resources, enhanced exploitation of hydropower, development and use of renewable energy resources including solar, wind and biomass in remote areas, exploitation of oil and gas reserves including off-shore drilling, joint gas pipeline projects with Iran and India, Turkmenistan and India and Oman, and encouragement of use of CNG and LPG and import of LNG.”

He said today’s ceremony marked yet another landmark in Pakistan-China relations and a milestone in the history of their use of nuclear technology which was an important step forward towards energy security.