Windjammer
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2009
- Messages
- 41,319
- Reaction score
- 181
- Country
- Location
The US is considering financial support for a $12bn dam in Pakistan in an attempt to improve its battered image in the country.
The Daimer Bhasha dam would provide enough electricity to end Pakistan's crippling shortages. It is said its reservoir would hold so much water it could have averted last year's devastating floods.
Washington has not yet made a final decision on partial funding of the dam, but US money would be crucial in securing other international finance, especially from the Asian Development Bank.
"Getting involved in a long-term project like this is very compelling for us," said a senior US official. "This is the project we're spending our time assessing.
"This would demonstrate that Pakistan is the kind of country where you can do large, complex infrastructure projects. It's not all flood relief and sacks of flour."
At the end of last week, President Asif Ali Zardari met a team from the Asian Development Bank "to start the process of financing Daimer Bhasha dam as the project has been approved at all internal fora of the country", according to a statement from his office.
Although Washington is Pakistan's biggest international donor by far, the support has done little to improve perceptions of the US, which is seen as the enemy by many Pakistanis a view exacerbated by continuing drone attacks in tribal areas and the killing of Osama bin Laden earlier this year. The dam, which harks back to similar projects supported by Washington in the 1960s and 1970s, could help reset relations between the two countries.
India is likely to object to US support for the dam, as it is located in the disputed Kashmir region. Opposition may also come from critics in the US Congress, who have called for all aid to be cut off after Bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan.
The dam, on the Indus river, would provide 4,500MW of cheap, green energy, making up for a shortfall causing up to 12 hours of power cuts a day across Pakistan. The reservoir would be 50 miles long.
Shakil Durrani, chairman of the water and power development authority, said Islamabad had approved the dam project and he was confident of US backing.
"If we had a reservoir the size of Daimer Bhasha the floods last summer would not have occurred," he said. "This would be the largest project ever undertaken in Pakistan. It is our top priority."
Analyst Mosharraf Zaidi agreed the dam could boost relations. "The overwhelming aid transfers from the US have been to the military and whatever little has come for the civilian sector has not developed as far as the rhetoric has," he said.
"Daimer Bhasha would be tremendously good for Pakistan and would show that the US is invested in a long-term relationship with Pakistan, no matter how bad things look today."
US aid to Pakistan increased to $1.5bn a year under the Obama administration, but has been widely dismissed in the country as going mostly to consultants and lacking focus. It remains unclear how much of this cash has actually arrived in Pakistan since the new aid programme began in 2009.
"US aid is neither visible nor tangible," said Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington. "Unless the people of Pakistan can identify large, visible projects that make a difference to people's lives, the US is not going to get the kind of appreciation that it believes it deserves."
The US official said Washington had spent $2bn on civilian assistance since October 2009, including $550m on flood relief last year, though that came from a separate fund.
Daimer Bhasha would take around eight years to build. Pakistani authorities plan to shortlist contractors later this year.
The Indian embassy in Islamabad pointed to a statement issued by the Indian government in 2006, after the project was first proposed, which insisted that the dam was "in territory that is part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession to it in 1947".
Relations between the US and Pakistan have been plagued by accusations in Washington that Islamabad is playing a "double game" by supporting Afghan insurgents, while Pakistan believes it has been bullied into acting against its own interests.
The unilateral US raid that killed Bin Laden in May humiliated Pakistan's powerful military, all but halting anti-terrorism co-operation between the two countries.
US support for Pakistan dam could help stem flow of bad blood | World news | The Guardian
The Daimer Bhasha dam would provide enough electricity to end Pakistan's crippling shortages. It is said its reservoir would hold so much water it could have averted last year's devastating floods.
Washington has not yet made a final decision on partial funding of the dam, but US money would be crucial in securing other international finance, especially from the Asian Development Bank.
"Getting involved in a long-term project like this is very compelling for us," said a senior US official. "This is the project we're spending our time assessing.
"This would demonstrate that Pakistan is the kind of country where you can do large, complex infrastructure projects. It's not all flood relief and sacks of flour."
At the end of last week, President Asif Ali Zardari met a team from the Asian Development Bank "to start the process of financing Daimer Bhasha dam as the project has been approved at all internal fora of the country", according to a statement from his office.
Although Washington is Pakistan's biggest international donor by far, the support has done little to improve perceptions of the US, which is seen as the enemy by many Pakistanis a view exacerbated by continuing drone attacks in tribal areas and the killing of Osama bin Laden earlier this year. The dam, which harks back to similar projects supported by Washington in the 1960s and 1970s, could help reset relations between the two countries.
India is likely to object to US support for the dam, as it is located in the disputed Kashmir region. Opposition may also come from critics in the US Congress, who have called for all aid to be cut off after Bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan.
The dam, on the Indus river, would provide 4,500MW of cheap, green energy, making up for a shortfall causing up to 12 hours of power cuts a day across Pakistan. The reservoir would be 50 miles long.
Shakil Durrani, chairman of the water and power development authority, said Islamabad had approved the dam project and he was confident of US backing.
"If we had a reservoir the size of Daimer Bhasha the floods last summer would not have occurred," he said. "This would be the largest project ever undertaken in Pakistan. It is our top priority."
Analyst Mosharraf Zaidi agreed the dam could boost relations. "The overwhelming aid transfers from the US have been to the military and whatever little has come for the civilian sector has not developed as far as the rhetoric has," he said.
"Daimer Bhasha would be tremendously good for Pakistan and would show that the US is invested in a long-term relationship with Pakistan, no matter how bad things look today."
US aid to Pakistan increased to $1.5bn a year under the Obama administration, but has been widely dismissed in the country as going mostly to consultants and lacking focus. It remains unclear how much of this cash has actually arrived in Pakistan since the new aid programme began in 2009.
"US aid is neither visible nor tangible," said Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington. "Unless the people of Pakistan can identify large, visible projects that make a difference to people's lives, the US is not going to get the kind of appreciation that it believes it deserves."
The US official said Washington had spent $2bn on civilian assistance since October 2009, including $550m on flood relief last year, though that came from a separate fund.
Daimer Bhasha would take around eight years to build. Pakistani authorities plan to shortlist contractors later this year.
The Indian embassy in Islamabad pointed to a statement issued by the Indian government in 2006, after the project was first proposed, which insisted that the dam was "in territory that is part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession to it in 1947".
Relations between the US and Pakistan have been plagued by accusations in Washington that Islamabad is playing a "double game" by supporting Afghan insurgents, while Pakistan believes it has been bullied into acting against its own interests.
The unilateral US raid that killed Bin Laden in May humiliated Pakistan's powerful military, all but halting anti-terrorism co-operation between the two countries.
US support for Pakistan dam could help stem flow of bad blood | World news | The Guardian
