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B'stan's water resource uplift plan ready for implementation

RECORDER REPORT

QUETTA: In Balochistan, water resource development programme with Jica assistance is ready for implementation at an estimated cost of Rs 811 million including Rs 807m FPA and Rs 4m, provincial government share.

Official quarters confirmed here on Tuesday that the programme had been sent to the Japanese government for the grant. The Japanese grant would include funds and equipments: heavy machinery such as bulldozers, scrappers and tractors. Initially, 14 dams would be constructed to conserve rain and floodwater in Killa Abdullah, Mastung, Kalat, Pishin and Quetta districts.

In these districts, water resource is rapidly depleting due to climatic changes and lack of necessary intervention for recharge of the available quantity of sub soil water. In these districts and several other areas of the province, groundwater is depleting at 10-feet per year because of excessive withdrawal compared to the recharge of the aquifer through the tubewells technology.

As such the ground water potential in different basins of Balochistan is 1,116 cusecs. Against this, 687 cusecs have already been exploited leaving behind 429 cusecs for future exploitation. There are about 18,000 tubewells open surface wells irrigating about 12 percent of the total cultivated area of Balochistan.

As these tubewells/open surface wells are depleting the groundwater resources rapidly, so the government has come out with the programme to construct delay action dams for recharging the groundwater table.

Meanwhile, pending Japanese grant, the present government is going ahead with a plan for the construction of 54 delay action dams in different areas of the province at an estimated cost of Rs 436.540 million under a phased programme.

The project under execution envisages raise in water table, reduction of the flood damages in the low lands and conservation of rain and floodwater for irrigation, agriculture and for drinking purposes.