Lahore: SENIOR Provincial Minister and Minister for Irrigation, Punjab, Raja Riaz Ahmed has said that Chiniot Dam Project on River Chenab was being launched at a cost of Rs 23.30 billion in district Chiniot to overcome the shortage of water in the province.
He was presiding over a departmental meeting, here Sunday. Raja Riaz Ahmed informed that Chiniot Dam would have the storage capacity of one million acre feet water. The Senior Minister said that after stoppage of water of the river Chenab by India, construction of water reservoirs at different places has become inevitable. He said that experts of Irrigation Department have initially selected Chiniot and Marala and feasibility study for the construction of new water reservoirs at these places has been completed with the assistance of WAPDA.
Raja Riaz Ahmed said that Irrigation Department is working on emergent basis to overcome the shortage of electricity in the province and Punjab Power Development Board has been set up with the cooperation of private sector for this purpose. He said that the board has selected ten suitable sites on different canals for hydel power projects. Raja Riaz said that the Punjab government has also allowed private sector to set up hydel projects while private sector can also launch joint ventures with Punjab government in this regard.
The Senior Minister informed the meeting that provincial government has decided to seek cooperation of experts from China in power generation projects so that load shedding could be controlled through setting up of new power generation projects as soon as possible. He said that Punjab government is also working on various project of power generation through coal, solar energy and solid waste. Among others, senior officers of Irrigation Department were present in the meeting.
