Lahore: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Malik Tahir Javaid issued a statement on 18th April 2018 that the Kalabagh Dam should be included in the federal budget of 2018-2019 to lower risks of water scarcity, according to a news report. Javaid further added that the people opposing the construction of this dam don’t understand the dire consequences of this.
He also said that this mega water project will benefit this agrarian economy. Javaid drew parallels and added that 1 million acre feet of water gives benefits worth USD 2 billion annually to the economy, meanwhile Pakistan is wasting 35 million acre feet of water by delaying the construction of this dam. This, he calculated, comes at about a loss of PKR 70 billion, which is as much as the country’s debt.
