National News

ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP): Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan
Abbasi Friday directed the Ministry of Water Resources to
focus on all the ongoing development projects and ensure their
timely completion.
Chairing a meeting on WAPDA Affairs here at the PM
Office, he said the new Ministry of Water resources had been
constituted for better resolution of the issues.
He said the matter of water security was neglected in
the past, while the entire focus was on power generation.
He said the present government had taken lead to initiate mega
water projects as water was the backbone of economy.
“We must make Ministry of Water Resources productive and
renew our efforts in this regard,” the prime minister said.
Chairman WAPDA Lt General (Retd) Muzammil Hussain gave
an overview and briefed the prime minister on the ongoing
water and power projects conceived as well as executed under
the present government under top experts besides informing him
about the future projects with focus on water resource
management.
It was pointed that all the strategic projects conceived
by the present government were on targets in terms of
timelines.
The meeting was informed that among the ongoing
projects, Kacchi Canal was ready for inauguration during the
current month. The canal would irrigate 72,000 acres of land in
Dera Bugti.
The project was delayed in terms of time and cost over
a period of fifteen years. The present government took the
lead and removed all the bottlenecks to complete the project,
WAPDA chairman said.
The prime minister expressed satisfaction over the
project and said the entire demography of Dera Bugti and
other regions of Balochistan would change for good once the
virgin lands to be irrigated.
WAPDA chairman also briefed the meeting on 969 Mws
Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project and said the first unit of
NJHPP would be commissioned on schedule in February 2018,
second in March, 2018 and the third and 4th units would be
ready for inauguration in April 2018.
Regarding 1,410 MW Tarbela IV Extension, the chairman
informed that its first unit would be ready for generation by
February 2018, second by April, 2018 and the third by May,
2018.
The meeting was also briefed on the projects in the
pipelines including Dasu Hydropower Project and Diamer Basha
Dam Project in terms of preliminary works.
The prime minister directed to control in cost escalation in
the projects without compromising quality of work.
He directed continuous monitoring of
these projects given their national significance, and desired
to place these in the agenda of the next CCI meeting to evolve
consensus among all the stakeholders.
“Our focus on Diamer Basha must be renewed and all the
bottlenecks must be removed,” the prime minister said.
“We must take decision; not taking decisions is not an
option anymore,” he said.
The prime minister also directed frequent review meetings on water
resource management and asked that all stakeholders should be taken onboard.
Secretary Water and other senior government officials
were also present during the meeting.