Multiple water projects to ensure agriculture development in Balochistan

Islamabad: Water is life, everybody knows. But the poor people living in Balochistan know it more than anybody else. It is a harsh reality of life for them since decades and a dream they always prayed to be materialised.

For them it is more a necessity to live than a facility with just less than 15 percent having access to safe drinking water and vast tracts of land still awaiting a reason to live.

Barren stretches of land had least sources of perennial water available for survival with just 200mm scanty rain annually and minimal storage facilities. This Trans Indus province has more then 13 major river basins, but all of them seasonal.

For the past half a century, seldom efforts were made to tame the floods, build water storage facilities or construct dams, small or medium. Even check dams and delay action dams were not built in required number.

The only dam was built on Hub River in 1960 to meet water needs in Lasbela district. However, some water was spared through Lasbela Canal for agricultural use in Hub Sub-Division.

Under 1991 Accord, Balochistan was allotted additional share of water from floods, but it could not use its share merely due to lack of infrastructure.

But, during last four years, huge investment has been made on Mirani and Sabakzai Dams (Rs 7,387.550m), Kachi Canal (Rs 31,204m), Balochistan Effluent Disposal (Rs 4,485m), Quetta Water Supply Project (Rs 7,965m) and Improvement of Water Courses in Balochistan (Rs 5,060m) to meet water supply requirements of the province.

Construction of Kacchi Canal was merely a dream for the people of area three four years back. But with work going on, this canal would bring under cultivation an additional 713,000 acres.

Sabakazai and Mirani dams and Pat Feeder Rabi Canal would irrigate 8,300, 32,800 and 150,000 acres land respectively.

Due to financial constraint, the province could not be able to develop these resources and around 12 MAF of water was wasted as flood run off yearly.

The Federal Government is now planning to construct 200 small dams phase-wise, to double the present cultivated area in 3 to 5 years. Potential sites like Porali and Nawa-Batozai dams have become part of the Federal Investment.

It has also initiated multiple projects costing over Rs 8 billion for development of agriculture sector through water resource management to magnify agri-production and improve socio-economic conditions of the people.

National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses, Chagai Water Management and Agriculture Development Project, Land and Water Resources Development for Poverty Reduction and Expansion and Promotion of Trickle Irrigation Project are the major projects.

Under National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses, construction of 6,366 water-storage tanks and lining of 7,100 watercourses is underway with the cost of Rs 5,060 million. Around 1,500 people have been directly employed and 18,000 indirectly. It would increase agricultural production, farmers' income and employment opportunities in rural areas through effective utilisation of available water resources.

Remodelling and improvement of 87,000 canal linked watercourses, involving complete earthen renovation, partial lining of critical reaches and installation of water control structures is underway.

The project is estimated to save 8 MAF water, reduce water logging and salinity, increasing cropping intensity by 15-20 percent, crop productivity by 10-15 percent, and equity in water distribution.

Chagai Water Management and Agriculture Development Project envisages development and optimal utilisation of Chagai groundwater resources and would bring fresh land under cultivation.

Land and Water Resources Development for Poverty Reduction in Pakistan is also being implemented with a cost of Rs 3,400 million to reclaim 100,563 hectares cultural waste land for cultivation besides the improvement of 43,847 hectares existing cultivated land in the provinc