RECORDER RPEORT

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Irrigation Amanat Ullah Khan Shadikhel has said that construction of modern and state of the art New Khanki Barrage on Chanab River has been completed near Wazirabad at a cost of Rs. 23442 million.

While talking to reporters here on Thursday he said that Punjab Irrigation Department has completed this mega project with the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank in a time span of 4 years. The water flow capacity of barrage has been increased from 0.7 million cusec to 1.1 million cusec. The new Khanki Barrage has been erected just 1 kilometer away from old Khanki Barrage which went dilapidated and outdated with the course of time.

He told that newly constructed barrage would go a long way to irrigate 30 lac acres agriculture land of Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sab, Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot and Toba Tek Singh districts in a satisfactory manner. Moreover, the Lower Punjab Canal would also supply sufficient water to 2925 miners and distributaries in effective way as a part of this project. The minister said that one of the salient features of this project is the establishment of Basic Health Unit, Government Girls Primary School and an eight acre recreational park in the area adjacent to Barrage.

Amanat Ullah Khan said that Punjab Irrigation Department is swiftly working on repair and rehabilitation projects at all old barrages. The department has already completed Taunsa, Balloki and Jinnah Barrage projects whereas work is in progress on Sulemanki and Tarimu Barrages. The gates of all these barrages have been connected with automatic computerized system. These projects would be very helpful in establishing Punjab Irrigation system on modern lines to start a new era of agricultural growth in Punjab.