Sukkur [key], city (1998 pop. 329,176), SE Pakistan, on the Indus River. It is an important commercial and industrial city and a center for trade with Afghanistan. Its industries produce cotton and silk textiles, cigarettes, lime, cement, and foodstuffs. Boat building and handloom weaving are also important. Modern Sukkur was built by the British general Sir Charles Napier in the 1840s. The city has several colleges. Sukkur Barrage, a dam across the Indus, controls one of the largest irrigation systems in the world. It was built from 1923 to 1932, is c.5,000 ft (1,520 m) long, and waters more than 5 million acres (2,023,000 hectares).
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