Do we need Kalabagh dam?

[AhsanAmin]

I have previously thought that Kalabagh dam is an issue in that collectively as Pakistan we really need to build this dam but provinces have some very just reservations that have been exploited by politicians to make it such a strong emotional topic that reason fails before such people in rational arguments.

We need this dam because
1. It will be a large source of cheap electricity.
2. It will have a large reservoir of water that will help control water downstream as needed by our agricultural and other needs.
3. It will also control water flow to help avert flooding disasters. We might continue to see more of such flooding problems in the river Sindh belt as weather patterns change.
4. As earlier large dams silt, we will continue to see smaller water capacity of their reservoirs and decreased electricity generation. This will also hurt agriculture in both Punjab and Sindh. Better build a large dam now that can help us continue to control water flow rather realizing the problem later when it is too late.

Sindh Province has reservations that say
1. Our water flow could be controlled and we might get less water. Once, I drove to Karachi from Lahore, and when I stopped and looked down Sukkur barrage, there was so little water in Sindh river, I knew there was some real truth to this reservation. This problem can be solved by national legislation that divides water between different provinces with mutual agreement.
2. Due to decreased water flow, sea water rises into Indus river channels where it makes delta close to Arabian sea. I do think good engineering might be able to solve this problem.

KPK says
1. Some major towns are located at lower height from sea level than the height of reservoir of the dam and may get submerged if the dam is breached.

As far as I see all these problems are more due to honesty deficit between different provinces and can be solved by right legislation, and good engineering skills. Yes, vested interests would continue to talk against everything rational to promote their own politics.

I think the dam if built taking into account the reservations of every province, would benefit all provinces. Let us have a discussion about different possibilities, reservations and how we can overcome the problems in building this dam.

 

[W.11]

as long as parties like PMLN who does politics based on punjab nationalism, PPP which does politics on Sindhi nationalism, ANP which does politics on pashtun nationalism, we wont even start talking about these things

we need parties which have the foresightedness and guts to take very difficult decisions boldly

in PTI i heard a PTI punjab representative who started taking about kalabagh dam and on another side we had pervez khattak who was very angry on those comments

these things will keep pending for very long time, until we have people like musharraf who talked very less and did too much

musharraf did all those things which were under planning for 3-4 decades like gwadar port, coastal highway, katchi canal, NADRA etc etc

we need a political party which can gather intelligent people from all four ethnicity to decide whats best for the nation and not some uneducated pashtun/punjabi/baloch/sindhi nationalist

 

[rohailmalhi]

I have previously thought that Kalabagh dam is an issue in that collectively as Pakistan we really need to build this dam but provinces have some very just reservations that have been exploited by politicians to make it such a strong emotional topic that reason fails before such people in rational arguments.

We need this dam because
1. It will be a large source of cheap electricity.
2. It will have a large reservoir of water that will help control water downstream as needed by our agricultural and other needs.
3. It will also control water flow to help avert flooding disasters. We might continue to see more of such flooding problems in the river Sindh belt as weather patterns change.
4. As earlier large dams silt, we will continue to see smaller water capacity of their reservoirs and decreased electricity generation. This will also hurt agriculture in both Punjab and Sindh. Better build a large dam now that can help us continue to control water flow rather realizing the problem later when it is too late.

Sindh Province has reservations that say
1. Our water flow could be controlled and we might get less water. Once, I drove to Karachi from Lahore, and when I stopped and looked down Sukkur barrage, there was so little water in Sindh river, I knew there was some real truth to this reservation. This problem can be solved by national legislation that divides water between different provinces with mutual agreement.
2. Due to decreased water flow, sea water rises into Indus river channels where it makes delta close to Arabian sea. I do think good engineering might be able to solve this problem.

KPK says
1. Some major towns are located at lower height from sea level than the height of reservoir of the dam and may get submerged if the dam is breached.

As far as I see all these problems are more of due to honesty deficit between different provinces and can be solved by right legislation, and good engineering skills. Yes, vested interests would continue to talk against everything rational to promote their own politics.

I think the dam if built taking into account the reservations of every province, would benefit all provinces. Let us have a discussion about different possibilities, reservations and how we can overcome the problems in building this dam.

There is already a agreement between all the provinces which dictates how much water share each province will get.

One more thing they claim is that if we build Kalabagh. Punjab will get more water from it. Kalabagh dam suppose to have 2 major canal one for KPK and other one for Punjab. Punjab even gave away on that canal.

Another reservation that due to low flow of water mangrooves will die out . But let me ask you whether these mangrooves are more important to us or the agriculture in all 4 provinces. Will those mangroove save us when we are going to face acute shortage of water .



As far as KPK concern , Dam are made in a way that they dont get breached that easy. Even if they do mechnism for averting the disaster will be in place if the dam is made. Their claim is also more of political rather than technical . They agreed to make this dam but then they took a U turn .


PS: Uncle Mush could have built this in his time but he couldnt. Let see if PTI changes stance on KBD.
I hope that our leaders have some vision and guts to take a risk rather than doing politics over.

 

[chalukya]

It is very difficult to construct such a huge dam without resolving the objections raised by lower riparian regions...And it is also difficult to resolve the objections raised by lower riparians...

 

[Norphisor]

YES A BIG FAT YESS!!!! we need that dam.

 

[My-Analogous]

First build other dams and put Kalabagh dam last in the list and try to resolve this issue meanwhile. We stop building big dam since 1960's and today whole nation suffer b/c of that. Its time to change our priority + we can asked Punjab govt. to stop royalty claim over Kalabagh dam for greater interest of the nation and Sindh govt. to stop using Kalabagh dam as a political issue for the greater interest of the nation

 

[ghauri05]

The reservations of Sindh ,as mentioned in article can be attended by proper legislation and engineering......and also in this era we can use water control and measurement devices to ensure that Sindh gets its proper share.....
As far as KPKs reservation is concerned..........I have some personal experience...... Last year I was internee at NTDC WAPDA and met with the engineers who drew the whole Kalabagh Dam design....and were responsible to build it.......but this politics destroyed every thing.......The engineers shown me the maps and told that there is only one small area.....which will be affected......I have forgotten the name but he told me that Noshehra and other big cities will not be affected...............And we can move those people to some other place......as when Tarbella Dam was built...... it was built on a village called Tarbella and hence the name for dam was chosen.....and population was moved to some safe place........so it is not a real issue and it can be solved easily......
There is another conversation of mine with my friend from KPK........when I asked him about Kalabagh Dam and general response of people of KPK towards this dam......He told me actually it is a political issue......Tarbella Dam is in KPK but KPK is not given the right share of its royalty.........and Kalabagh Dam is in Mianwali.......which is in Punjab/KPK border.....and ANP believes that KPK will not get its share of royalty.........so they have made it a political issue..............