ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Saturday said that a massive programme of developing water resources undertaken over the past two years would add 5.2 million acre feet of water to the existing capacity and help alleviate poverty and boost the country’s agro-based economy.

“I am fully convinced that in addressing poverty, unemployment and simultaneously to give boost to our agro-based economy, we have to take water to the people where they need it most,” the president said while inaugurating the three-day international conference on water management.

The government’s thrust, he said, was to alleviate poverty and revive the sagging economy. The answer to these problems involved boosting the agro-based economy, he added.

Therefore, he pointed out, the government had analyzed that water resource management was the key to achieving these objectives. “We need to get water to the people...and hence my obsession with the water reservoirs.”

The Second South Asia Water Forum is being organized by the Global Water Partnership, an inter-governmental organization, in collaboration with the water and power ministry. Some 400 delegates, representing 40 countries, are attending the conference.

The president said that Pakistan during the last four years had experienced one of the worst drought which had destroyed the irrigation land and forced people to migrate in search of food and shelter.

Therefore, the president said, the government over the past one-and-a-half year had launched a massive programme of developing reservoirs.

He said Chutiari Dam in Sindh had been completed and added that work on the Gomal Zam and Mirani Dams in the NWFP and Balochistan as well as the level-raising project of Mangla Dam was under way.

In all, the president said, up to 5.2 million acre feet of water would be added to the country’s capacity. “Mangla Dam has a capacity of roughly 5 million acre feet of water. So, in all we are going to add one major dam capacity of water in 4-6 years.”

At the same time, the president said, it was equally essential to take that water to the people whose millions of acres remained barren for want of water. The government, therefore, undertook the construction of a canal system and water channel simultaneously.

He said the Kachi Canal, being constructed in Balochistan, was 500km long and it would irrigate 283,400 hectare and generate Rs30 billion from sowing of cotton alone.

He said the canal would permanently settle thousands of families of nomadic tribes who had been migrating in search of water, food and fodder for centuries.

“So through the water development programme we killed two birds with one stone — poverty alleviation and reviving economy.”

The president said the third aspect of the programme was power generation. Currently, he pointed out, 70 per cent of total power generation in the country was through oil which had added a burden of over $1 billion to the country’s imports.

Pakistan, he said, could generate power through water and coal which were in abundance and were cheaper mode of production. “Our aim is to change the ratio of power generation 70:30 in favour of hydro-electricity,” he said, adding it would again deal with the objective of poverty alleviation.

President Musharraf said the construction of dams and water reservoirs could also be the best way to control floods. “If we construct proper dams on rivers there can be no floods in Pakistan”.

Moreover, the president said, it was also essential to ensure that water from rivers flowed into sea to prevent any backflow. He then gave the example of Kotri Barrage where backflow of sea water had destroyed the irrigation land.

He expressed the hope that the future governments would lay due emphasis on the need of increasing capacity of water in the country.

The president appreciated that the groundwater management had been selected as the main theme of technical discussion for the conference.

He said it was a geographical fact that water had united many countries and in this respect referred to Pakistan and China which were linked by rivers and mountains.

However, he added, water had also been a source of conflict between countries and regions. He said it had been a cause of difference of opinion between Pakistan and India over river water which was resolved through the Indus Water Treaty.

He said water distribution and allocation among the provinces remained a contentious issue. Even within a province, he added, the distribution of water among the influential and the powerless was a contentious problem.

The president hoped that with a cooperative strategy, water could play a vital role as a catalyst for harmony among the South Asian countries.

He praised the objectives of the Forum, including stabilization of population in South Asia, food security, affordable water supply and sanitation, protection of water from contamination, etc.

He announced a donation of Rs10 million to the Pakistan Water Partnership for effectively assisting ‘Area Water Partnership’ in implementing the integrated water resource management at the grass roots.—APP