LAHORE: The development of 3.88 million acres of barren land in Punjab is possible in 22 years if the government ensures provision of only 2,200 bulldozers and builds capacity of the agriculture department to execute such a massive project, Dawn has learnt.

Official records of agriculture department’s field wing term its land development proposal vital for Punjab in particular and the country in general in boosting agriculture through a green revolution.

According to a proposal recently shared with the Punjab government, the department has been going through a dismal situation for the last many years. Its existing fleet of 338 bulldozers has either completed its operational life or needed urgent rehabilitation to carryout the ongoing land development work at least.

“Agriculture field wing’s 70 bulldozers have operated for 10,000 to 20,000 hours, 79 for 20,000 to 30,000 hours, 164 for 30,000 to 40,000 hours, 22 for 40,000 to 50,000 hours and three for over 50,000 hours,” read a recent presentation shared with Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

It estimated development of 3.88 million acres in 88 years with its existing capacity to operate 550 bulldozers. But if the government enhanced the capacity of the department for operating 2,200 bulldozers, the land could be converted into lush green fields in 22 years, the proposal claimed.

After being provided with 550 new bulldozers, the department can develop the entire land in 97.132 million hours (88 years/2,000 hours per annum). And if the department works with 350 bulldozers, 138 years are required to develop the land.

“The government should at least approve a proposal seeking procurement of 300 new bulldozers and rehabilitation of 200 existing ones for running the department smoothly,” the report suggested.

That department, which claimed to have developed Punjab’s 1.413 million acres with about 29 million hours of bulldozer work benefiting 113,120 farmers till fiscal year 2011-12 since its inception in 1974, stated that the price value of the 3.88 million acres would increase manifold if the government focused on boosting the sector.

“At present, the price value of the land is Rs200,000 to 300,000 per acre. Immediately after developing it, its price will be Rs1 million to Rs1.2 million per acre. And as soon as growers start cultivating it, its price will be Rs2 million to Rs2.5 million with per crop income of Rs60,000 to Rs80,000 per acre,” the proposal read.

“We are trying hard to attract government’s attention towards this issue keeping in view its importance. Though it seems to be least interested in agricultural advancement, but we are justifying our plan before the quarters concerned,” a senior official told Dawn.

He said the existing fleet of 338 obsolete bulldozers (Kamatsu and Caterpillar), presently working in all districts across the province, had been purchased some 20-25 years ago from a grant the department received from Japan in 1993.

“They all have completed their lives (11,000 hours of running time) twice, but we have no funds to replace them with new ones to develop the barren land,” the official said.

He said the issue was not in the government’s list of priorities, hence it had not responded to the department’s requests to replace the outdated equipment. He said the department was trying to develop the land on its own with the annual funds it had been receiving from the government.

“But how long will we depend on the annual funds alone, as we will have to execute the proposal if the government really wants to bring agricultural revolution in Punjab,” the official questioned. He claimed if the government implemented this project, the country would be the biggest exporter of agriculture products in the world.