F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib on Monday lashed out at the past rulers over outright failure to execute projects for additional water reservoirs which led to substantive reduction of 27 per cent in storage capacity of the country.
Addressing a news conference at Pak-China Friendship Centre, he said past water storage capacity of over 15 MAF had now substantially been reduced to current 13 Million Acre Feet (MAF).
Flanked by Punjab’s Minister for Irrigation Muhammad Mohsin Khan Leghari and Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, Farrukh said Mohmand Dam project, first conceived in 1963, lingered on for decades sans any solid progress, adding identical dams also remained in doldrums.
The minister said it was definitely an act of ‘criminal negligence’ on the part of past rulers which virtually put agriculture at stake.
Now Prime Minister Imran Khan had a vision to go for ‘Decade of Dams’, banishing the ‘Decades of Darkness’ forever in the country, he added. During the next decade, there will be ten additional dams, eventually doubling the water storage capacity of the country, he said, adding it would not only avert flash floods, but help boost the supply of water in the country. Farrukh said Prime Minister Imran Khan was passionately working to resolve water woes in the country that might have been dealt with by the previous rulers.
Recalling the pledge of the Prime Minister to strengthen the national institutions, Farrukh said it was evident from the formal entry of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in the international market for its first-ever Green Eurobond worth US $ 500 million.
He said the Green Bond attracted six-fold bids from international entities worth US $ 3 billion by 200 firms. It was the country’s maiden green bond, formally launched by the prime minister today, he added.
Farrukh said the bond was issued on the basis of WAPDA’s stable financial position instead of sovereign guarantee and added it manifested that the institutions were surely on the trajectory of becoming vibrant.
On specific water issues between Punjab and Sindh, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan, being a statesman, desired equitable distribution among four provinces.
He said the prime minister was eager to facilitate all provinces on pertinent issues including water, adding the telemetry system would soon be installed to ensure judicious water distribution among all federating units. The state minister said that Pakistan had one of the robust irrigation systems in the world, and urged the opposition parties to avoid politicizing the water issues.
To a query, he said the government was alive to the issue of the journalists as it had recently tabled the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Bill, which would be enacted soon after its approval from the committee concerned to ensure their safety and protection.
As regards the issue pertaining to Youtuber Asad Toor, he said a committee had been constituted to investigate the matter and called for avoiding speculation on the issue.
