MOHMAND
\nFederal Minister for Water Resources, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah here Thursday said that construction of new dams were vital for bolstering agriculture productivity, fulfilling people\u2019s water requirements and achieving autarky in food.
\nTalking to media persons after visiting different sections of the under- construction Mohmand dam costing Rs309.6 billion, the Federal Minister said this multifaceted project was very important for the country\u2019s economic and agricultural water needs besides providing clean drinking water to Peshawar and adjoining areas.
\nHe said 20 percent work on Mohmand dam has been completed while the remaining work would be completed by 2026. \u201cPakistan is an agricultural country and construction of new dams is required to bolster agriculture production and ensure food security,\u201d he said.
\nHe said large dams have a direct impact on the economy and if four new dams were built then not only our economic and agricultural growth would improve but immensely help in paying out of the country\u2019s debts.
\nWith completion of Mohmand dam, he said, the water shortage problem of Peshawar would be addressed. Over 300 million gallons of water per day would be provided to Peshawar from Mohmand dam for drinking purposes with Rs957 million benefits. Likewise, the project would provide 2.86 billion units of environmentally friendly electricity to the national grid every year with an estimated Rs45.76 billion annual revenue.
\nThe Mohmand dam hydropower project is being constructed on River Swat about five kilometers upstream of Munda headworks in Mohmand district. Construction work on Mohmand dam is progressing at a good pace and despite COVID-19 pandemic, work on the project continued on its 14 different sites.
\nFederal Minister Khursheed Shah said that there was a time when Pakistan had provided Rs200 million financial assistance to Germany.
\nTo a question, Khursheed Shah said Pakistan can\u2019t afford political instability and chaos. He said the people of KP would make Imran Khan accountable for his broken promises in the 2023 general election.
\n\u201cWhere are one million jobs, five million houses and one billion trees in Khyber Pakthunkhwa,\u201d he said, adding the PTI government has failed to address peoples\u2019 problems and economic issues despite obtaining about Rs22,000 billion record loans during the last three and half years.
\nTo a question about Imran Khan\u2019s recent statement about Pakistan\u2019s split, Syed Khurhseed Shah strongly deplored it and said that Pakistan was an atomic power and no one can cast an evil eye on it.
\nHe said Pakistan has a powerful army which is always ready for protection of the motherland besides countering any external and internal challenges.
\nHe said that the coalition government was working tirelessly to take the country out of existing economic and other challenges and put the economy back on track. \u201cThe government will complete its tenure and the election will be held on time,\u201d he said.
\nEarlier, the Minister was given a comprehensive briefing on Mohmand Dam by the Wapda authorities.
\nHe was informed that Mohmand dam\u2019s gross storage capacity is 1.293 million acres feet (MAF) and 800 megawatt power generation capacity.
\nBesides supplementing 160,000 acres of existing land, the Minister was informed that about 18,237acres of new land would be irrigated while its annual benefits are estimated at Rs 2.23 billion.
\nThe project would help protect Peshawar, Charsadda and Nowshera from floods with annual Rs45.76 billion revenue in terms of flood mitigation. The overall benefits of the project stand at Rs51 billion.
\nThe Minister was further informed that over 6,100 jobs would be created for technical manpower and laborers during construction of the dam.
\nKhurshid Shah directed Wapda authorities to expedite work on this mega project so that it could be completed within stipulated time and people could be largely benefited.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOHMAND Federal Minister for Water Resources, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah here Thursday said that construction of new dams were vital for bolstering agriculture productivity, fulfilling people\u2019s water requirements and achieving autarky in food. Talking to media persons after visiting different sections of the under- construction Mohmand dam costing Rs309.6 billion, the Federal Minister said this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[2066,2298,8053,5613],"class_list":{"0":"post-264212","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-peshawar","8":"tag-agriculture","9":"tag-construction","10":"tag-food-autarky","11":"tag-khursheed-shah"},"yoast_head":"\n