Sindh government completes lining of 12,000 watercourses

Karachi: Sindh Government has completed lining of 12,000 watercourses out of the targeted 33,000 under the National Programme for Improvement of Watercourses (NPIWs) and Sindh Onfarm Water Management Program (SOWMP).

'Work on two programs is continued and so far we have improved 12,000 watercourses... total 29,000 watercourses would be improved under NPIWs while 4,000 under the SOWMP in Sindh,' official sources in Sindh Agriculture Department told Business Recorder on Tuesday.

In December 2007, President Pervez Musharraf had cleared a revised strategy for the Rs 86 billion NPIWs project, with a 50/50 share of the federal and provincial governments. Whereas the federal government and provinces were to contribute 40 percent each the farmers were declared to bear the remaining 20 percent.

'The NPIWs is a program of Rs 22 billion and Rs 4.5 billion would be invested on the SOWMP', said the official. After exceeding the 5000 watercourses target in 2007 by 700 watercourses the Sindh government had targeted improvement of 7,000 watercourses during 2008, he added.