PESHAWAR:Caretaker provincial minister for irrigation, Haji Fazl Elahi on Monday said that dams play an important role in the agricultural development of any country, while the agriculture sector is affected due to the lack of an excellent irrigation system, which results in shortage of food items.

After the completion of the Remodelling of Warsak Canal project, the water flow in the Warsak canals will increase up to 1250 cusecs.

The flow of seven hundred cusecs of water will increase with this project. Most of the areas of Peshawar and Nowshera are irrigated from the canals coming out of Warsak Dam.

Unfortunately, a lot of our water is being wasted.

He expressed these views during his visits to various ongoing projects of the Irrigation Department in the Khyber and Mohmand districts.

During the visit, Chief Engineer South Yasin Khan, Project Director Remodelling of Warsak Canal Rooh ul Mohsin, Superintending Engineer Batoor Zaman Khan and relevant officials of the Irrigation Department were present.

Minister Irrigation visited the pump house of Warsak Canal in Jamrud where he inspected various parts of the pump house and inquired about their functions.

On this occasion, Project Director Remodelling of Warsak Canal System Roohul Mohsin said during the briefing that the total number of pumps in the pump house is five of which four are in use while one pump is on standby, work is going on for the upgradation of the grade station in the pump house, which will be completed soon.

Meanwhile, minister Haji Fazl Elahi reviewed the work on the tunnel under the Remodelling of Warsak Canal project in Malaguri where the Chinese company is doing development work.

The officials of the Chinese company while giving a detailed briefing regarding the construction of the tunnel to the caretaker provincial minister of irrigation said that a wide area will be irrigated from the Kabul River through this tunnel.

The total length of this tunnel is 5.4 km and the construction work started in March 2023. The project will be completed by February 2027.

Haji Fazl Elahi, while directing the completion of the project within the stipulated time, said that after the completion of the project, abundant water will be available to the farmers which will increase their production.

He also visited and inspected different parts of the dam. The officials briefed the minister about the various parts of the dam.

He inspected various parts of the canals coming out of Warsak Dam and gave necessary instructions to the concerned authorities.