Our country has faced devastating floods that wreacked havoc with infrastructure and killed tens of thousands of people. In addition, they caused us billions of dollars in economic losses. But despite destruction on such a large scale, it seems our policy-makers have not learnt any lessons. Instead of adopting long-term polices involving construction of mega storage water reservoirs, our flood control strategy revolves around wasting billions of rupees on the construction of protective bunds and dykes.
The Flood Inquiry Commission, constituted by the Supreme Court in December 2010, recommended the construction of Munda dam to control floods in Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera districts. The dam, with a storage capacity of roughly 1.3 MAF water and generation capacity of 740MW, can help overcome to some extent the energy crisis the country is facing these days. Besides, the project will help irrigate nearly 15,100 acres of land. The dam will also be useful to control floods and thus avert damages downstream of the dam. It will also serve as a source of direct and indirect job opportunities – both during and after its construction. The federal and provincial governments are requested to undertake this project.
Khan Faraz
Peshawar