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DAM-L The only dam ready for construction (fwd)
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From: Right to Water <right-to-water@iatp.org>
To: dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca
Subject: The only dam ready for construction
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:54:44 -0500
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Right to Water (right-to-water@iatp.org) Posted: 06/22/2001 By daima@brain.net.pk
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The only dam ready for construction
The Dawn, By Ahmad Fraz Khan, 15/6/2001
http://www.dawn.com/2001/06/15/nat21.htm
LAHORE, June 14: Kalabagh Dam is the only major multi-purpose water
resources project ready for completion in six to seven years, a study
commissioned by the Irrigation and Power Department has concluded. All other
projects, the report recently submitted to the Punjab governor says, need
technical studies and scrutiny and none can be completed within the next 15
years. The authors of the study include former Wapda chairman Lt-Gen Safdar
Butt, I&P Deptt adviser Chaudhry Mazhar Ali, former I&P Deptt secretaries
Aslam Chohan, Syed Mansoob Ali Zaidi, former chief engineer Khalid Farooq
Akbar, water resources development experts Riaz Nazir Tarar and MH Siddiqui
and Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority consultant Chaudhry Muhammad
Shafi.
The study points out that Bhasha and Skardu dam projects involve far graver
environmental and economic problems than Kalabagh. Bhasha Dam, the immediate
alternative, has a proposed height of 660 feet compared to 260 feet in case
of Kalabagh Dam and is located in a highly active seismic region. There is
no road access for transporting heavy machinery and the project site is far
away from power load centres and the 500 KV transmission network. It also
must submerge a long stretch of the Karakoram Highway and the entire Chilas
valley for which there is no viable resettlement sites nearby. Kalabagh dam,
the study adds, is the only project site from where a right bank gravity
irrigation canal can be taken to Dera Ismail Khan in the NWFP, and a left
bank canal for areas in the Punjab. No upstream site hold these advantages.
Kalabagh is also the lowest available site on the Indus and has the largest
catchment area. A dam at Kalabagh can help utilize monsoon flows in the
Indus as well as Kabul and Soan rivers. Indus flows at Bhasha and Skardu
comprise mostly snow-melt.
Kalabagh is also close to load centres and 500KV transmission network. It
will also help improve power generation capacity of Tarbela Dam by allowing
installation of three additional units, the authors of the study say. The
study also lists the problems delay in the construction of Kalabagh Dam can
create. "Availability of irrigation supplies to all canals in Pakistan would
progressively fall due to siltation of Tarbela and Mangla Dams. The
provinces will be forced to share increasing shortages over long periods
with consequent heightening of provincial tensions."
Inadequate canal supplies will result in loss of agricultural production and
permanent damage to farm land.The authors fear that Pakistan will be faced
with increasing difficulties in meeting food requirements and imports of
wheat, edible oils, pulses and sugar will strain the economy. The study says
non-availability of cheap hydro-power would cause an annual loss of $1
billion. Immediate construction of a major river storage, the report says,
was the cornerstone of the 1991 Water Accord, a consensus document for
prosperity sharing by provinces and was projected as such by the federal
government as well as the national press. Without the large storage to
supplement irrigation supplies - Kalabagh Dam being the only one ready for
implementation - the accord would be a mere piece of paper.
VISION 2025: The study maintains that the six irrigation schemes included in
Wapda's Vision 2025 also run the risk of losing viability in the absence of
an additional reservoir on the Indus river. The study notes that detailed
engineering studies for these schemes are proposed to be completed in two to
three years and implementation by the year 2010. But the viability of the
schemes depends on assured water availability. Water availability, however,
cannot be ensured unless a new storage comes online concurrently. "With the
best of intentions and hoping that everything goes well, Bhasha Dam, now the
Priority-I project, is not likely to be available before 2015 or 2020. It
is, therefore, not clear how these irrigation schemes can be implemented by
2010," the authors observe.
The report also points out that, irrigation being a provincial subject, the
provinces have been dealing with it from their own resources and according
to their priorities. This has ensured proper regard to project approach,
availability of water supplies, environmental and resettlement issues and
operational problems. The experts believe that in chalking out Vision 2025
the Wapda should have consulted the provinces concerned and left the
implementation of the schemes to them. "If the federal government plans to
conduct these studies through the Wapda, it is essential to ensure effective
association and participation of provincial governments."
IRRIGATION PROJECTS: The study also questions the merits of the six schemes
in the provincial context. The 200-miles Kutcha Canal which is proposed to
carry 5,000 cusecs water to some part of Balochistan - would run through the
Punjab for its first 70 miles. The experts fear that along the way it could
cause flooding, waterlogging, soil erosion and population displacement. "The
Kutcha area was earlier proposed to be irrigated from Taunsa Barrage," the
panelists point out and wonder what has made Wapda planners change their
mind.
Chashma Right Bank Canal having a lift component of 60 feet has also come
under attack in the study. The farmers, it says, favour a gravity flow canal
taking off upstream of Kalabagh.
Greater Thal Canal, the only project meant to benefit the Punjab, was
studied by the provincial authorities along with other equally feasible
plans like Dajal Canal Extension, Jalalpur Canal and irrigation of Smaller
Cholistan. The four schemes can irrigate 2.5 million acres land. Detailed
engineering studies and implementation of the four projects are pending
after construction of Kalabagh Dam was deferred. The Rs 61 billion project
cost mentioned in the Vision 2025 is three time the provincial estimates,
the report says.
The Riverine Area Development envisages sinking of 48,000 tubewells along
the Indus river between Guddu and Kotri at a cost of Rs 14 billion. The
project was earlier linked to Kalabagh Dam. Since no dam on the Indus is
likely to be built in the near future flooding pattern in the area would not
undergo any change, the study says.
Rainee and Thar canal project is to cost Rs 51 billion. It is a flood
irrigation project which proposes the digging of a 5,300-cusecs 300-miles
canal taking off from the left of Guddu barrage which will run for two to
three months a year. The study says Sindh government has already done the
study that the Wapda now plans to undertake at a cost of Rs 138 million.
The Wapda also plans to study, at a cost of Rs 138 million, the Rs 113
billion Sehwan Barrage project which has been thoroughly studied by Sindh
government. An area of 2.43 million acres, now being irrigated from the
Sukkur Barrage on the left bank and located in the lower reaches of Nara and
Rohri canals is proposed to receive additional supplies from the new
barrage. The enhanced supply was previously proposed to come from a new
major storage on the Indus. The barrage was thus included in Wapda's list of
post-Kalabagh Dam projects.
Finally, authors of the study feel that the Wapda should have associated the
provinces at the planning stage and respected their priorities. Many
excellent schemes for the Punjab, they say, have been studied and shelved.
None of them has been mentioned in the Vision 2025.
Assigning these schemes to the provinces, they say, would have strengthened
their institutional capacity in the planning and design area. Even now, they
say, the federal government should ask the Wapda to associate the provinces
in its efforts as they are the major stake-holders.
WAPDA VIEW: Asked for their remarks on the contents of the report, Wapda
authorities said delay in the construction of Kalabagh Dam was a political
decision taken by the government. They said Wapda experts did not doubt the
feasibility of Kalabagh Dam project. In view of the government decision to
postpone it, however, the Authority had to look for alternatives.
About irrigation schemes discussed by the study, they maintained that
Kachhi, Thal and Rainee were flood canals. As such, they said, there was no
requirement for perennial water supplies. The canals, they said, would
benefit hitherto neglected areas and raise the ground water level. The
Chashma Right Bank Canal, included in the second stage, and the Sehwan
barrage are planned mainly for regulation. There may, therefore, be no
immediate need for additional water, they said.
Development VISIONS,
48 A, Shalimar Colony,
Bosan Road, Multan- Pakistan
Ph:++92-61-222609
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