President Pervez Musharraf on Monday underscored the need for building more water reservoirs and canals for progress and prosperity in Pakistan. Pakistan's economy in general and that of Sindh in particular is dependent on agriculture, Musharraf said in a speech to scholars, faculty members and students of University of Sindh. Agricultural improvement is possible only by increasing the yield for which uninterrupted and sufficient supply of water is a pre-requisite, the president said.

Senate Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro, Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan, Punjab Governor Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool (Retd), Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Federal and provincial ministers, MNAs and MPAs were also present on the occasion.

President Musharraf said to ensure increased supplies of irrigation water, it is pertinent to have ample stock of water in reservoirs while on the contrary due to silt two major reservoirs of the country are depleting their capacity.

At the same time, the President said there are areas in Balochistan and NWFP where there is no canal through which, these provinces could take their due share from the available water resources.

He said with the passage of time, need for constructing more reservoirs will increase.

At present, we need at least one reservoir to overcome the affects of depletion of water resources due to silting of Tarbela and Mangla dams, he added.

He said the problem of water shortage in the country needs to be redressed by constructing new dams as well as by checking any seepage of the available water during transit from canals to the fields.

Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2005