QUETTA – The Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri on Tuesday laid down the foundation stone of Mangi Dam mega project. The project, which has been estimated to cost Rs9.33 billion, will be completed in four phases in three-year duration.
Qambar Dashti, Secretary Public Health Engineering, briefing the participants said the Mangi Dam will be constructed with the cost of Rs9.33 billion which will be completed in 36 months period in four consecutive phases. He said the federal government was financing half of the amount earmarked for the project.
The four phases, which are part of the project, including erection of dam, installation of pipelines, fixation of pumping machinery and construction of water storing tanks, said Dashti. The Mangi Dam project, some 85 km from Quetta, has specially been planned to meet the rising demand of water in provincial capital Quetta.
He said the Mangi dam will have storage capacity up to 29,550 acre feet and will provide 8.1 million gallons water on regular basis to Quetta. He added that catchment area of dam comprised 1207 acre which would replenish the rapidly falling table of water in the area and help promote agriculture and livestock.
Chief Minister Zehri, addressing the ceremony, said that exemplary peace had been restored in Balochistan after rendering numerous sacrifices and the government would not anyone to harm it at any cost.
The chief minister reminded with determination that the precarious affairs, that Balochistan encountered prior to 2013 general polls, won’t be let to revisit the province.
Grieving upon the deplorable episodes of past, Zehri added, “The personnel of law enforcement agencies were martyred and we have sacrificed our children which will not be allowed to go waste.”
He said the whole province along with Quetta was facing acute water shortage but ironically only the pledges were being made to address the water woes and no practical step was taken in this context which made the issue more complex and grave.
Source: The Nation
