RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has termed huge water shortage in dams very alarming and said that the country would be facing irreparable loss if new water reservoirs/dams are not built.

LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said water storage capacity has gone down horribly and all those are responsible who are opposing the important water and power projects. Pakistan is an agrarian economy and cannot afford water dearth at any cost but unfortunately no strategy has been evolved to resolve this major issue. He said the country is dependent on only two big dams including Tarbela and Mangla. It is a matter of concern that water storage capacity of the two dams has been reduced significantly and situation would be more concerning with the passage of time.

“Lack of storage reservoirs and wastage are the biggest reasons of terrible water shortage in the country. Ongoing water crisis is a result of putting Kalabagh Dam into dispute while previous year around 12 million acre feet water is wasted to sea which is equal to the capacity of two big-dams,” the LCCI President said.

Javaid said that Pakistan can hardly escape from becoming a big desert unless drastic measures are taken instantly. He said that sufficient availability of water is must for sustainable development but in Pakistan per capita availability of water is decreasing because we have water but not enough reservoirs for storage.

The LCCI chief said that with every passing year, Pakistan is getting close to the brink of mass starvation because of a drastic cut in water availability from 5,000 cubic meters per capita in 1950s to 1000 cubic meters. As per World Bank analysis, our storage capacity has gone down to 150 acre feet. India has improved its per capita storage up to 200 acre feet which will get further better once under-construction dams start operating. He said these facts call for establishing water reservoirs in the whole country which will enhance the capacity of water storage. He said that the same reservoirs will come handy in case of low and medium floods. He said after every two to three years we have to face emergency situation due to floods in Pakistan that adversely affect our economy and push us back many years.

He said Pakistan’s economy is heavily reliant on agriculture sector. This sector engages almost 45 percent of our work force. He said our leading manufacturing sector is textiles which gets basic input from agriculture. Without water, there is no survival of agriculture.