central section of the Sindh Sāgar Doāb (tract), Punjab province, Pakistan, lying between the Indus and the Jhelum and Chenāb rivers. Formerly desert, it is now irrigated by canals from the Jinnah Barrage (Kālābāgh Barrage) on the Indus. The Thal Project, under the Agriculture Development Corporation, is one of the most important development projects in the world, with plans for extension of agriculture, industry, and village and town construction. Cultivation of wheat, cotton, rice, and sugarcane has increased. Forests also have been planted and cattle farms set up. New towns—Jawharābād, Qāidābād, and Liāqatābād—have been built with woollen and sugar mills and textile and cement factories.