Staff Reporter
Peshawar
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has termed the proposed Chashma Right Bank Lift Canal Project (CRBC) as of vital importance for the province in achieving self-sufficiency in agriculture products and has demanded of the Federal Government to include the project in the upcoming Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
He said that the project is of equal importance both for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as for Punjab which, on completion will irrigate million acres of barren land in both the provinces and thereby address the issue of wheat shortage on permanent basis. He made this demand in a meeting of National Economic Council (NEC) held under the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday. Besides the relevant Federal Ministers, the meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of all the four provinces and Gilgit Baltistan and Prime Minister Azad Jammu Kashmir through video links.
On special invitation Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shah Farman also attended the meeting through video link. Mahmood Khan said that since food security was the top priority area of both the Federal and Provincial Governments in the prevailing corona situation; and as such inclusion of the proposed CRBC project in the federal PSDP was the dire need of the hour.
The Chief Minister also raised the issue of funds for the accelerated development of the newly merged areas at the forum and urged upon all the provinces to fulfill their commitments already made by them for providing three percent of their shares in the National Finance Commission for the newly merged areas.
