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>
> By Beena Sarwar
>
>KARACHI, Jun 19 (IPS) - By clearing a contentious multi-million
>dollar dam project on the Indus River, Pakistan's Prime Minister
>Nawaz Sharif has dared to take a decision that was put off for 15
>years by his predecessors.
>
> The 3,600 MW Kalabagh dam, to be built in the North West
>Frontier Province (NWFP), has been vociferously opposed by three
>of the country's four provincial governments, the sole exception
>being Sharif's home state of Punjab.
>
> In Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan provinces, members of the
>provincial assembly, cutting across party lines, have unanimously
>voted for several resolutions against the project in the past.
>
> Anti-dam sentiments have been so strong that even Pakistan's
>last military ruler, Gen. Ziaul Haq, chose to put the project on
>the backburner after proposing it.
>
> Yet, Prime Minister Sharif last week unilaterally decided to
>build the dam near Kalabagh town, a couple of hours drive from
>the Pakistani capital, and about 200 kms downstream from the
>Tarbela dam.
>
> ''Only Nawaz Sharif could do this, cut the ground from under
>his own feet just when he was at the peak of his popularity,''
>commented political analyst Idris Bakhtiar.
>
> ''I don't understand why Sharif had to take this decision at
>this point in time,'' said environmental activist Omar Asghar
>Khan. ''The climate internationally is against big dams, and
>there are solid grounds why they are not feasible.''
>
> The prime minister, media reports here indicate, was persuaded
>by his economic advisers who believe the dam is essential for
>increasing irrigated farmlands and meeting the electricity needs
>of Pakistan's growing towns and cities.
>
> Most of the water and electricity generated will go to
>agriculturally prosperous Punjab, where the prime minister's
>brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who is chief minister, has already
>announced the creation of a public building fund for the dam.
>
> Dam planners have pegged costs at 5.7 billion dollars, of
>which 3 billion dollars have been pledged by the World Bank. The
>government must, however, raise a minimum 40 percent of the total
>costs, under Bank conditions for loans.
>
> Whether sanctions-hit Pakistan, which is aid-dependent and
>debt-laden, will be able to afford the project has not been made
>clear by the government.
>
> But ever since Sharif's announcement, there have been rallies
>and processions against the federal government's decision all
>over the already politically volatile Sindh province, home to
>Sharif's main political opponent former premier Benazir Bhutto.
>
> Sindh, Pakistan's southern province, believes the building of
>the dam would mean a drastic reduction in the downstream water
>flows, that would hit the province the hardest since it is at the
>end of the proposed canal network.
>
> The water shortage in the Indus estuary would cause a lot of
>environmental degradation, destroying mangroves and marine life
>as well as ecological damage with sea water invading the delta.
>
> ''Reduced flows downstream, would not only affect agriculture
>on the coastal areas, but also the mangroves which hold the
>coastal soil together,'' explains Asghar Khan of a local
>grassroots development group, 'Sungi' or friend, a member of the
>IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature).
>
> A team of officials from Islamabad who rushed to Karachi, the
>Sindh capital, to persuade the provincial government has so far
>failed in its mission with Sindhi political leaders of both the
>ruling and opposition parties united in opposition.
>
> The provincial governments are angry that Islamabad has gone
>back on assurances to allies like the ruling party in Balochistan
>that the dam would not be built without their consent.
>
> In the NWFP, where the dam reservoir will displace some 34,500
>people, including residents of Nowshera town, there is concern
>about their resettlement. Anti-dam activists say the government
>has not compensated some 2,000 people displaced by the much
>smaller Tarbela Dam on the Indus River 30 years ago.
>
> The NWFP's influential Awami National Party (ANP) led by Khan
>Abdul Wali Khan and his wife Nasim Wali Khan, leader of the
>opposition in the province, are in the forefront of the anti-
>Kalabagh dam campaign in the province.
>
> Centre-provincial relations in Pakistan have always been
>sensitive because of ethnic divisions. But the Kalabagh dam
>controversy which has pitted three of Pakistan's four provinces
>against Islamabad could damage the federal system.
>
> ''The Punjab is increasingly isolating itself from the other
>provinces,'' observes Women's Action Forum activist Neelam
>Hussain, a teacher based in Lahore, Punjab's capital.
>
> With all key government and political posts occupied by
>Punjabis, which Islamabad-based political analyst Jamilur Rehman
>calls the ''Punjabisation of Pakistan'', the state has profited
>under the Sharif government.
>
> Last year, Sharif pushed through a 350-million dollar highway
>project linking Islamabad and Lahore, even though the country
>could not afford it. With the project completed, work has started
>on an international airport for Lahore's 3 million people, though
>Pakistan is broke.
>
> The additional financial burden of the Kalabagh Dam would
>sorely test Sharif's new post-nuclear tests slogan of ''self-
>reliance, sacrifice and austerity''. (End/IPS/bs/an/98
>
>
>
>
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Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 12:17:56 -0800
From: Anand Patwardhan <anandp@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in> (by way of irn@irn.org
(International Rivers Network)) (by way of patrick@irn.org (Patrick
McCully))
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Subject: IPS: Kalabagh Dam Ignites Political Discord
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