KARACHI, Dec 2: Terming the Sukkur barrage the backbone of Sindh’s economy, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah directed the irrigation authorities, engineers and experts on Monday to opt for the rehabilitation of the existing barrage rather than building a new one.

The chief minister issued this directive while presiding over a meeting held to review the planning for the Sukkur barrage in the light of the recommendations of the panels of national and international consultants.

The meeting, held in the committee room of the Sindh Secretariat, was attended besides by provincial ministers and the officials concerned, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah, former secretaries and irrigation experts A.N.G. Abbasi, Bashir Dehar, Shuja Junejo, ex-chief engineer Khadim Memon, irrigation expert from Punjab Malik Ahmed Khan, and Sukkur barrage chief engineer Junaid Memon.

The chief minister asked the authorities to implement the recommendations of the panel of experts in letter and sprit which, according to the estimate, would cost Rs30 billion.

Referring to the recommendations, he said there were two opinions about the survival of the Sukkur barrage. One favoured having an alternative to the Sukkur barrage because of expiry of its life, and the other was for strengthening the existing barrage, which could benefit the people of Sindh for the next 30 to 50 years.

Although after threadbare discussion and deliberation by irrigation experts the meeting came to the conclusion that there was no immediate structural threat to the Sukkur barrage, the chief minister directed the officers and experts of the department to conduct a study with the help of national and international experts for preparing a feasibility and identifying an alternative site to build a new barrage for the replacement of the Sukkur barrage.

“We cannot put the rehabilitation work of the existing barrage on hold because of the concept of an alternative barrage,” he said, adding that meanwhile the final study of experts for having a new barrage would be vetted for implementation in case of a consensus by all stakeholders.

The chief minister said: “This is a too important and sensitive issue to move in haste.” He added: “We have been considering restrengthening and rehabilitation of the Sukkur barrage for long. In this connection ex-president Asif Ali Zardari had also visited the barrage along with the deputy prime minister of the United Kingdom during the last floods and had asked him for their support in this task and the deputy prime minister had accepted our request.”

Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, expressed his satisfaction over the briefing made by the senior irrigation engineers and said that there were hundreds of reasons for depending on the existing Sukkur barrage but one reason of completion of lifetime by it compelled us to have an effective plan for an alternative barrage in hand, so that we can move to the decision in right time and escape any disaster.

He said that 70 to 80 per cent agriculture in the province depended on the Sukkur barrage and we must protect economic interests of the people in advance.

Sindh Minister for Works and Services Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani said the structure of barrage was strong and was not under threat. “What it needs is its proper maintenance,” he said. However, he favoured its remodeling and rehabilitation of its canals along with the barrage as, according to him, those all had silted up and their designed capacity had decreased.

Earlier, former irrigation secretary A.N.G. Abbasi said that there was no need for an alternative barrage on account of having an increased discharge capacity or because of completion of the lifetime of the Sukkur barrage.

Similarly, other ex-secretaries for irrigation Shuja Junejo, Bashir Dehar and irrigation secretary Babar Afandi endorsed Mr Abbasi’s views and said that by rehabilitation of the existing Sukkur barrage it would be safe for 30 to 50 years. However, they favoured carrying out studies to ascertain the need for having a new barrage in replacement of the Sukkur barrage.

Earlier, the chief minister directed the works and services department to ensure completion of 47 road schemes of about 1,800 kilometres by Dec 31.