PM Shehbaz Sharif says dams vital for prevention of floods

MOHMAND: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has asserted that dams play an important role in the production of cheap electricity and prevention of floods, ARY News reported on Monday.

The prime minister made these remarks during his visit to Mohmand Dam Project site in district Mohmand. The Chinese and site engineers also briefed the Prime Minister about the construction and engineering design of the project.

Talking to journalists, PM Shehbaz Sharif said stressed that there was need to immediately shift country’s power generation capacity to solar and wind power production systems as the costly power generation was continuously depleting the national exchequer.

The premier further said that Pakistan had been facing a very acute problem of expensive power generation due to import of expensive fuels, and then subsidizing it for the consumers.

He said it was three-tier losses to the national exchequer, as the country had been importing costly fuels for the power generation and then reducing the cost of the power for the consumers.

The prime minister also expressed his serious concerns over the damages caused to dykes and the construction site of the dam in the recent floods, and said that would delay its completion time and could hamper country’s progress.

He said the construction of dam was carried out by the Chinese and Pakistani people, and it would generate 800 MWs of inexpensive power besides, helping in water reservation and providing protection against flash flooding.

Underlining the need for timely completion of dams, he said country’s progress prosperity and economic development hinged upon their full and timely functioning.

The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to investigate the matter of damages caused to the system by hiring an independent third party.

The prime minister expressing his concerns said that such thing had happened in the Neelum-Jhelum power project and now occurred here due to floods.

He said in the Neelum-Jhelum project, they had decided to hire independent consultants to thoroughly investigate the issue in a transparent manner.

Earlier, Wapda Chairman Lt Gen (retd) Sajjad Ghani gave a briefing over the project.