The statement of Chairman Mardan Chamber of Commerce, reported in the national press, says that the majority in KPK support the construction of KBD. It appears that their hearts have melted. The climate experts say that in 21st Century glaciers would melt steadily while rains would increase. There is all the more reason to build a storage dam below Tarbela to reduce the annual floods decimating the country and to produce cheap power that is affordable. While we have become a nuclear power, we have not yet become a hydel power, utilizing hardly 15 per cent of our potential capacity of 44000 MW generated through hydel power, which is reducing each day due to silting of existing dams. We must not portray rosy images of Bhasha dam in the distant future, because it recedes into a dream with the lack of an NOC from India, and also the lack of support from World Bank. We must use the hydel power in the form of rivers, which go to waste each year, due to our silence on KBD.
DR. MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI,
Lahore, May 25.