Kalabagh Dam shelved forever

[maqsad]

When Musharraf took over the top priority was to take Pakistan out of bankrputcy state.
Than was the war threat and in between earth quake!
Still he organised debates on TV and worked hard to convince the opponents to agree on constrution and even made many changes to the orignal plan in order to neutralize false apprehensions or hinderrences, I would say.
I my self has seen many TV debates involving his own self and other technical experts.
He organised international financers.
Now if you open the link above posted by P2P you will notice that all the report and statistics were done under Musharraf's leader ship.
No wonder even if the website was launched during his governance.
We cannot count 2007.

I will check that link out later but my point was simply that Musharaff was a military dictator, a strongman. He upset millions of Pakistanis by randomly arresting suspected militants all over Pakistan and then handing them over to foreigners for as little as $5000 bounty. If a strongman can crush the will of so much opposition and trampling on national pride and dignity then why can he not muster up the power to trample on the dignity of Sindh and force the construction of the damn somehow?

 

[Neo]

Kalabagh dam and political pressures​

THE Kalabagh controversy refuses to go away, even in its “abandoning”. As it appears, it would not get resolved in future either and keep haunting the nation.

The successive governments’ strategy of avoiding water sector development in order to ‘save the federation’ from political pressures has not helped. Neither the controversy nor the pressure can be wished away by taking arbitrary decisions.

The manner in which the PPP government announced it intends to abandon the Kalabagh dam would only add fuel to the fire. Instead of taking up the project for democratic debate at the national level and at the proper forum like the Council of Common Interest, or the parliament to resolve it either way, the government has simply “shelved it for good.”

In shelving the project, if the PPP government has taken cue from persistent political controversies around the dam, those in favour point finger to periods when the project had national consensus behind it.

During the sixties when the Indus Basin Water Treaty was signed, the Kalabagh dam emerged as the most favourite site. President Ayub Khan dropped it in favour of Tarbella site, which fell in his native area.

Then the consensus emerged in Water Accord of 1991, which was signed by all four chief ministers, and clearly states: “The need for storages, where ever feasible on the Indus and other rivers was admitted and recognised by the participants for planned future agriculture development.” The accord was approved by the Council of Common Interests on March 21, 1991.

The previous government also formed technical and parliamentary committees on the issue to evolve consensus. The technical committee in its report supported the project and the parliamentary committee did not oppose it either.

The PPP government’s choice to take only controversial side of the project as a reference point would only worsen the problem.

It seems to have forgotten that pressure on the federation could only be removed by dealing with water paucity by building dams. By delaying decisions, it could only generate extra pressure on the federation.

In the heat of the moment, the government also ignored the fact that the Kalabagh dam has been the most studied – it was subjected to a series of most exhaustive studies spanning three decades (1953-1982) – and it was a technically sound project. If the three smaller provinces somehow view it as a Punjab project, farmers in Punjab would hold people from other federating units responsible for abandoning it.

Abandoning the Kalabagh dam project, without coming up with an alternative in a certain timeframe, is not only bad politics but the worst economics.

It is not the site of a particular dam per say which makes it favourite or otherwise, but bigger issues like economic, power and agriculture needs define a project. No can deal with these realities without building water reservoirs. Only a credible institution like parliament should take such decisions because it has to deal with these bigger issues.

At present, the country not only needs a particular dam but a series of them because its agriculture, the economic base of the country, is in bad shape.

Agriculture experts say if these water shortages are removed, per acre yield of almost all major crops could increase immediately and add Rs160 billion to the national economy. Over 18 billion units of electricity, their cost and impact are in addition to the loss the government suffers because of lack of water storage. The per capita water availability, which stood at 5,700 cubic meters in 1947, has dropped to 1,070, with 1,000 being the red line.

Pakistan used to have 15.9maf storage capacity, which has now dropped down to 11.6maf – a loss of 27 per cent. It simply translates into water shortages for agriculture. During the current Kahrif season, the country suffered a water shortage of 26 per cent and during the last Rabi it was at 23 per cent. Tarbella Dam used to serve water needs up to mid -June, when the refilling starts. It now hits dead level by late-February or early March. Silt eats 10-day irrigation supply every year forcing early emptying of lake. All these statistics are part of official record and debate.

Until and unless, the government comes up with a viable alternative plan to meet the water and power needs, it would only be making water problems more complex.

The Indus Basin Water Treaty gives Punjab exclusive rights over 9maf water storage to compensate it for loss of three eastern rivers. That is why Mangla and Tarbella Dams were built. No one seems to be bothered as to what would happen when the total storage capacity dwindles to 9maf and Punjab approaches the federation with exclusive rights over entire storages, leaving other three federating units on the run of river.

All these issues must be taken up in parliament and other federal bodies like the Council of Common Interest and debated and resolved in the federal spirit. Taking arbitrary decision in favour of one project or against other, would neither remove poverty nor pressure on the federation.

Kalabagh dam and political pressures -DAWN - Business; June 09, 2008

 

[Neo]

Ministry hopes government will revisit stance on Kalabagh Dam​

ISLAMABAD (September 20 2008): The Ministry Water and Power hopes that the government will revisit its stance on the controversial Kalabagh Dam which has been deferred till a consensus is developed amongst the provinces as construction of mega reservoirs is the top priority of the ministry, sources close the ministry's advisor told Business Recorder.

"The required consensus hasn't reached as yet despite the administrative and technical efforts of Wapda and presentations at different levels in the provinces about the merits of the project. Therefore the project is being deferred until such time that consensus is developed on its construction amongst provinces," the sources quoted a summary which is part of the files of the ministry and can be opened any moment on the directions of the President and/or Prime Minister.

The sources were of the view that political dialogue, possibly at IPCC level instead of administrative efforts would be helpful in removing province's reservations on the dam. The sources said the Cabinet in its meeting on April 23, 2008 had decided that the Ministry of Water and Power should seek fresh approval on big and small dams. The Cabinet had also directed that the royalty issue of Diamer-Basha Dam may be deliberated upon between the Ministry of Water and Power, NWFP and Northern Areas administration.

In order to meet the growing demand for irrigation and power, the Cabinet in its meeting on January 17, 2006 had decided to construct five large dams. Had the decision been implemented by the target date of 2016, an addition of 17.8 MAF of water and 9,373 MW of electricity would have been visible.

Unfortunately, progress on construction of five large dams has not been satisfactory. Preliminary activities on Diamer-Basha Dam have started and land acquisition plan was approved by the CDWP on September 18, 2008 - two years after the decision taken by the Cabinet to construct five large dams.

However, the biggest hindrance in the implementation will be accessing 8.5 billion dollars for which no significant headway has been made despite several meetings of the task force constituted for the purpose in the Finance Division. The National Economic Council (NEC) headed by the Prime Minister had allocated Rs 500 million for the Diamer-Basha Dam in 2008-09. Work on the dam is expected to commence after international bidding.

The sources said that progress on other dams was too slow and the preliminary work on the Kurram Tangi Dam has been resumed with the land surveys and demarcation, etc, after a long delay due to law and order situation and the NWFP demand to raise its height to enable storage of 1.20 MAF water.

The detailed engineering design on the revised parameters has been completed by Wapda and the survey work for land acquisition has been resumed by the provincial revenue department and Wapda. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was also carrying out the preliminary activities as a contractor. The ministry expects that with the improvement of law and order situation the progress on the main activities of the project will improve.

Regarding Akhori Dam, the sources said that feasibility study prepared by Wapda is pending Planning Commission approval, which is held up as the province's reservations could not be removed. On Munda Dam, the sources said that the private investor M/s AMZO Corporation has failed to make any headway beyond the feasibility study as the two partners of the company have gone into litigation stalling the work indefinitely.

Wapda has been given the task to prepare detailed engineering design to implement the multi-purpose project in the public sector or a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, if a reliable partner in the private sector is found to share the financing of the project.

The sources said water situation in the country for agriculture and other usage is deteriorating with every passing day. The water availability of 5000 cubic meters per head at the time of partition has come down to less than 1100 cubic meters per head and if this situation continues unabated, Pakistan will be categorised as a water-deficient country.

"Construction of five dams and other storage projects will add 20 MAF water to the system. It will also generate 25000 MW of cheap electricity which will help reverse the worsening water and power shortages," the sources observed.

According to sources, global warming also requires to put in place a cascading dam system on the rivers of Indus Basin to store additional water as a result of accelerated glacier melting of Himalayan Mountains. The sources said the ministry can move its summary to the Cabinet at any time if it receives directives from the top. Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf had announced recently that the Kalabagh dam plan has been shelved.

 

[BATMAN]

If democratic govt. have come to this point than who else is dictating it against the wish and study of respective ministry?