Pakistan government looks to public to fund dam as water scarcity hits

The government has raised $260 million in donations, a fraction of the total $14 billion that it needs to build a large water reservoir. Experts are skeptical if the plan could work.

People rowing in a reaming water capital's water reservoir, Rawal dam which at its lowest level in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, June 22, 2018.
AP

People rowing in a reaming water capital's water reservoir, Rawal dam which at its lowest level in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, June 22, 2018.

Researchers have warned that Pakistan may soon face water scarcity. 

They say it needs new reservoirs, better resource management and dams to avert the threat. 

 But large reservoirs require massive funding. 

Prime Minister Imran Khan's new government announced a plan to fund the construction of dams from donations that it plans to raise from its citizens.

However,  the scheme might not bring-in enough to cover the bill.

Business Editor at Dawn, Khurram Husain says that the "sheer scale of what is required, even at present rate of average daily inflow to the account, could take up to a century to reach the target."

TRT World's Kamran Yousaf reports.

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