Sindh government, World Bank rehabilitating Guddu Barrage

KARACHI: The government of Sindh and the World Bank have started rehabilitation work on Guddu Barrage, a senior official said on Tuesday.
"We have started working on the rehabilitation of Guddu Barrage with the help of the World Bank. Later, we will come to Sukkur Barrage, improvement at canals and lining of small distributaries, as well," Syed Zaheer Hyder Shah, secretary, Sindh Irrigation Department, said.
Addressing at the provincial water conference, organised by the Indus Consortium in collaboration with Oxfam, Shah said Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority and growers are working together for the improvement of the water usage system.
The provincial government and irrigation department is fully aware of the issues of growers. Further improvement is being carried out with the support of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, he said.
The SIDA secretary said capacity of the controversial drain Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) was raised to 4,500 cusecs from 2,400 cusecs, adding that they are working on climate change issues, as well.
Mehmood Nawaz Shah, secretary general of the Sindh Abadgar Board, said that there was no relevant data generated on irrigation in Sindh, where irrigation network was moving from bad to worse.
Dr Mubashir of Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi said that Pakistan is a water scarce country where only 82 million people, or 30 percent, area have access to water. Quoting media, he said, there was potential of using 139 million acres feet (maf) ground water through pumping and mixing with the surface water.
"We need efficient water utilisation. Agriculture engineers have development machinery and we need to utilise it," he said.
Nazeer Ahmed Memon, senior general manager transition SIDA, said water availability at Akram Wah had improved. "Some people who had migrated to other areas have returned to their areas after arrival of water," he said. "Reform in water sector is considered too difficult as compared to reforms."