Of the 25 projects, 12 projects costing over Rs 1 trillion were recommended to Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec). The CDWP approved Diamer Bhasha Dam project, however a committee consisting of Chairman Parc, Member (Water) Wapda, Secretary Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Member (Energy) Planning Commission and one representative from each province has been formed to submit a report on availability of water.
The committee under the chairmanship of Chairman Parc will submit the report in 2-3 weeks. The incumbent government has given special importance to Water Sector and decided to construct 32 small and medium dams, 8 in each province in addition to the mega dams.
The small and medium dams approved include, Punjab 7 dams costing Rs 5.7 billion, Sindh 5 dams costing Rs 21.6 billion, NWFP 4 dams costing Rs 3.4 billion, Balochistan 6 dams costing Rs 22.3 billion. The provincial governments will meet the cost of land and will also develop command areas from their own resources. The construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam is the top priority of the government, which would add 450MW to meet the increasing demand of electricity.
Similarly, power generation by others small dams including Naulang Dam, Pelar dam, Bara Multipurpose Dam, Sheikh Hyder Zam Dam and Nai Gaj dam would add to the existing capacity of the country. Infrastructure development including the construction of multipurpose dams to support sustainable socio-economic development is the highest priority, its multiple benefits include water supply, irrigation, flood control and energy generation.
For irrigation purpose, presently 196 MAF of total water surface is available and about 215 MAF of water would be required by year 2013 and about 277 MAF by year 2025.
Therefore, construction of a series of storage dams at all feasible sites is direly needed to support the economy. 6.8 MAF of irrigation water would be added by construction of these dams. Additionally on-going schemes of dams would add 17.5 MAF of water capacity during the coming years. An amount of Rs 18 billion has been allocated against these projects in the PSDP 2009-10.
A special programme announced by the President of Pakistan, costing Rs 350 million for the optimal utilisation of the potential of highly qualified overseas Pakistanis was also approved by CDWP. In addition, a National Project for enhancing the existing capacity of grain storage costing Rs 27 billion was approved.
The CDWP also considered concept papers namely Establishment of National Training Center (NTTC) Kasur, Creation of new facilities for handling and purification of Coal Gas (HBCG) produced by underground coal gasification and production of Coal Gas by Underground Coal Gasification.