Kalabagh Dam
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The Kalabagh dam is a mega water reservoir that Government of Pakistan planning to develop across the Indus River, one of the world's largest rivers. The proposed site for the dam is situated at Kalabagh in Mianwali District of the north-west Punjab province, bordering NWFP.
The dam project is a highly controversial and has been so since its inception. In December 2005, General Pervez Musharraf, who became the President of Pakistan after a 1999 coup, announced that he would definitely build the dam in the larger interest of Pakistan.
| Kalabagh Dam Key Facts | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kalabagh |
| Dam Type | Earthfill |
| Height (above riverbed) | 260 feet |
| Length | 11,000 feet |
| Area at retention level | 164 miles² |
| Catchment Area | 110,500 miles² |
| Gross Storage Capacity | 7.9 MAF |
| Live Storage Capacity | 6.1 MAF |
| Dead Storage | 1.8 MAF |
| Retention Level | 915 feet amsl |
| Main Spillway Capacity | 1.07 million cusecs |
| Design Flood Discharge | 1.92 million cusecs |
| Hydropower Generation | 3,600 MW |
| Maximum Discharge | 1.2 million cusecs (in 1929) |
| Total Volume of Dam | 34 million cubic yards |
History
The region of Kalabagh was once an autonomous jagir (feudal estate) within Punjab. It was annexed by the Sikhs in 1822. After the British annexed the Punjab, the Nawab of Kalabagh was granted the jagir of Kalabagh, in recognition of his services to the British Raj.According to the PC-II of the Project, Kala Bagh dam was initiated by GOP in 1953, and until 1973, the project was basically considered as a storage project for meeting the irrigation needs, and consequently, rapid increases in the cost of energy have greatly enhanced the priority of the dam as a power project.
The project's paperwork was finalized in March, 1984, with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme; supervised by the World Bank, for the client Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) of Pakistan.
Controversy
The proposed construction of the Kalabagh Dam triggered an extremely bitter controversy among the four provinces of Pakistan, namely Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province, and Balochistan. The only province which is in favor of this dam, is Punjab that is the most strong among all four provinces, as usually the government is mainly centralized in it. The other three provinces have expressed extreme dissatisfaction, going so far as to have their provincial assemblies pass unanimous resolutions condemning the proposed dam. Hence, the project is still under consideration.The delay is also being caused by the fact that according to international water distribution law, the tailender has a legal and natural right on river and that is why no mega construction or reservoir can be built without permission and endorsement of the tailender i.e. Sindh. In the case where the tailender is not using water i.e. building a water reservoir, a reservoir can be made upstream.
Impact assessments of the proposed dam have shown that while it will provide storage and electricity, the dam will also have adverse impacts on the environment, as can be expected from any large dam. It will also displace a large number of people. While proponents point to the benefits, the adverse factors have been played up by the opponents of the dam. As a result, the dam has been stalled by claims and counterclaims since 1984.
The controversy can be best understood by looking at the viewpoints of each of the four provinces.
Punjab viewpoint
Punjab — the granary of Pakistan - desperately needs more water to keep up with the growing population and industrial demands on its agriculture. A dam at Kalabagh would also supply cheap hydro-electric power.The annual outflow of water into the Arabian Sea is considered a "waste" in Punjab, which feels that water can be used to irrigate Pakistani infertile lands.
Punjab wants not just Kalabagh, but also two more large dams on the Indus, at Bhasha and Skardu/Katzarah. It feels that the Kalabagh site is the most favourable, compared to the other two, and that it should be built first.
Sindh viewpoint
Sindh, the first province to point KBD project a blame game, is the lower riparian and strongest opponent of KBD.But its case mainly against Punjab is more on a conceptual basis of what Sindh thought it to be "theft of water by Punjab" rather than locating actualu incident of theft. Sindh supports its argument by stating that by virtue of its name and history of water rights of the province, Indus River bleongs exclusivley to it. Therefore, claiming the construction of dams, Tarbea and Mangla and now KBD actions of theft of water at the irrigation cost of Sindh. Further, Sindh presents many objections at the proposed dam, some of the important are as follows.
- First, Sindh objects that their share of the Indus water will be curtailed as water from the Kalabagh will go to irrigate farmlands in Punjab and NWFP, at their cost. Sindhis hold that their rights as the lower riparian have precedence according to international water distribution law.
- Second, the coastal regions of Sindh require a constant flow of water down the Indus into the Arabian Sea so that the flowing water can keep the seawater from intruding inland. Such seawater intrusion would literally turn vast areas of Sindh's coast into an arid saline desert, and destroy Sindh's coastal mangroves.
- With the construction of dams, such as Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam across the Indus, Sindhis have seen the once-mighty Indus turned into a shadow of its former glory downstream of the Kotri Barrage up to Hyderabad. They fear that there simply is not enough water for another large dam across the Indus, let alone three.
- The Kalabagh site is located in a highly seismic zone near an active fault, and the underlying rocks are likely to contain numerous fractures, causing the reservoir water to seep through the catacomb of fractures and discharge at the lowest point around the reservoir and the Indus river. [link]
- Damming the Indus has already caused a number of environmental problems that have not yet addressed. Silt deposited in the proposed Kalabagh dam would further curtail the water storage capacity of Manchar Lake and other lakes and of wetlands like Haleji Lake.
- President General Musharraf and other leaders, such as Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, have promised 'iron-clad' constitutional guarantees to ensure that Sindh gets its fair share of water. However, these assurances mean little to most Sindhis, who point out that
The objection to Kalabagh in Sindh is widespread. Even political parties of Sindh that are in the central cabinet and are supported by General Musharraf, such as the MQM, have strongly denounced the dam.
NWFP viewpoint
The NWFP has two main objections to the dam.
- While the reservoir will be in the NWFP, the dam's electricity-generating turbines will be just across the provincial border in Punjab. Therefore, Punjab would get royalties from the central government in Islamabad for generating electricity. Contrary to this, however, Punjab has agreed not to accept any royalties from the Kalabagh Dam. The fact that the NWFP will suffer the adverse consequences of the reservoir but not get royalties is seen as unfair.
- Concerns that large areas of Nowshera district would be submerged by the dam and even wider areas would suffer from waterlogging and salinity as has occurred with tarbela dam.
Balochistan viewpoint
The Baloch are not directly affected by the dam as such. Rather, most Baloch see the dam as another instance of Punjab lording it over the smaller provinces. By opposing the dam they are signalling their disaffection with being the poorest province and most neglegted of all in development.Analysis
Most independent analysts believe that the foremost problem with the proposed dam at Kalabagh is one of a trust deficit between the Punjab on one side and the other three provinces on the other. The noted columnist, Ayaz Amir suggested that the people of Punjab should redefine their assumptions about the rest of Pakistan and distribution of resources. A layman of Punjab does not understand why the rest of Pakistan does not trust Punjab. The answer, according to Amir, lies in the frequent coups staged by the Pakistan Army (which is overwhelmingly Punjabi in its composition), as well as the Army's extra-constitutional intervention and influence in public sector and civil institutions of the country in general and Sindh in particular. Now no province is ready to trust the Punjab.All Pakistanis agree that Pakistan faces a severe water shortage, and that some form of water management must be implemented soon. Many point out that even if work on Kalabagh were to start tomorrow, it would still take at least eight years to complete and commission such a large dam. In the meantime, the water situation would continue to worsen. Smaller dams, barrages, and canals must be built before that, and water conservation techniques introduced.
The WAPDA [link] for years repeatedly changed its statistics on the dam, to the point where no-one in Pakistan now believes any of its figures. Government of Pakistan formed a technical committee, headed by A. N. G. Abbasi, to study the technical merits of the Kalabagh dam vis-a-vis the other two. The four-volume technical report concluded that Bhasha or Katzarah dam should be built before Kalabagh, further complicating matters. To make matters even more complex, the report also stated that Kalabagh and Bhasha Dams could be considered feasible
The abrupt way in which President General Musharraf announced the decision to build the dam, simply overruling the objections of the smaller states, has sharply polarised public opinion. In Punjab the view is one of "...its high time!" while in the other states, especially Sindh, the reaction has been one of "...over my dead body!".
The fact that the General literally dragged so controversial an issue off the backburner and thrust it into national centre stage without considering the predictable reactions from the smaller provinces has left many aghast. Much has been said in the press, and the issue is still far from being resolved.
External links
- [KalaBagh Dam by Friends of Indus]
- [The KalaBagh Controversy by Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan]
- [Engineer Iftikhar Ahmad's analytical articles on KalaBagh]
- [Kalabagh Dam: An ecological Disaster by Abrar Kazi]
- [Proposed KalaBagh Dam]
- [KalaBagh Dam news archive]
- [Why Sindh Opposes Kalabagh Dam?]
- [Official Site: Govt of Pakistan]
- [Official Site: WAPDA]
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