Lower Bari Doab Canal

The Lower Bari Doab Canal is a canal in Punjab, Pakistan.^[1] Part of the second-largest irrigation system of the province, it serves approximately 275,000 farmsteads. It is located south-west of Lahore and runs alongside the River Ravi.^[2]

Lower Bari Doab Canal
Location	Punjab
Country	Pakistan
Specifications
Length	201 km (125 miles)

History

Lower Bari Doab Canal was commissioned in 1914, off-taking from Balloki Barrage, whereas the barrage itself was constructed in 1911–13.^[3][2] The canal was remodeled in 1985-88 and then again in 2014–18.^[4] The canal was formally inaugurated by Governor of the Punjab Sir William Malcolm Hailey on 12 April 1912. Subsidiary canal off-taking from the main canal were designed by Sir Ganga Ram to irrigate his 50,000 acres of land in Sahiwal District of the Punjab.^[5] Sir Ganga Ram incidentally also built a power station on the main canal near the town of Renala Khurd in 1925. The power station had five generators delivering a total of 1.1 mega watt electricity.

Current status

The canal has been rehabilitated as part of a mega project funded by the Asian Development Fund^[6] and implemented by the Lower Bari Doab Canal Improvement Project of the Punjab Irrigation Department in 2014–18. The 201 km-long canal along with 2,264 km of distribution channels irrigates 700,000 hectares of land of Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, and Khanewal districts.^[4] The remodeling project also enhanced the flood management of the Balloki Barrage from 2,25,000 cusecs to 2,60,000 cusecs.