Sukkur Barrage rehabilitation to extend structure’s life by 30 years, says CM

SUKKUR: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that the ongoing rehabilitation of Sukkur Barrage will add another 30 years to the structure’s operational life once the work is completed by June 2027.

During a visit to the barrage in Sukkur district, the chief minister was told that 44 of the barrage’s 66 gates had been replaced in the first two years of the project. According to the briefing, the work had cost Rs23.4 billion as of June 2026. One of the barrage’s gates had been washed away in June 2024.

Shah said the project had moved beyond its original target. He said 32 gates were initially planned for replacement, but 44 had already been changed. He added that the old stone roller gates with counterweight systems were being replaced with fixed-wheel automated gates, a change he said would strengthen flood resilience and improve irrigation performance. Around 600,000 farming families in Sindh rely on the barrage for irrigation, while, according to the chief minister, nearly 60% of the province’s population lives in rural areas and depends directly or indirectly on irrigation water.

The chief minister also said rehabilitation of Guddu Barrage had been completed at a cost of Rs9.585 billion. Referring to the wider importance of the work, he said the barrage’s floor and related infrastructure had undergone a comprehensive overhaul for the first time in nearly a century. Shah directed the Sindh Irrigation Department to ensure quality, safety and transparency in the remaining phase of the Sukkur Barrage project and complete it on schedule by June 2027.