PESHAWAR: The Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has addressed a letter to the Prime Minister regarding the prolonged delay in the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC) project.
According to sources, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi emphasised in his letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that the CRBC project has remained stagnant for 35 years, leading to growing distrust among the public. He noted that, unlike irrigation projects in other provinces, the CRBC has not progressed despite the Water Appropriation Agreement of 1991.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had determined the project’s financing to be 65% from the federal government and 35% from the provincial government. However, he accused the federal government of intentionally neglecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s projects. Although the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a Rs 189 billion project in 2022, work has yet to commence.
Sohail Afridi mentioned that WAPDA has been persistently delaying the procurement and qualification processes. The provincial government has released Rs 2 billion and has allocated an additional Rs 5 billion for land acquisition, yet the pace of WAPDA’s land acquisition remains slow.
He criticised the federal government for allocating only Rs 100 million to the project, describing it as a trivial approach. The CRBC project is crucial for areas affected by terrorism and has the potential to generate an economic benefit of Rs 38 billion. Afridi further stated that more than 280,000 acres of land would be irrigated by the CRBC, warning that the ongoing delays could lead to a crisis of confidence among the public.
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