Should Pakistan build Kalabagh dam to overcome electrical issues

[M K Sial]

Most developed contries are not going for big dams because they have already utilised most of their storage and power generation potential.

The dams of the Colorado and Murray-Darling Rivers for instance can hold 900 days of river runoff. South Africa can store 500 days in its Orange River, and India between 120 and 220 days in its major rivers. By contrast, Pakistan can barely store 30 days of water in the Indus basin.

The problem with Pakistan is that we have signed the Indus Basin Treaty with India which gives two of its major rivers, ie Sutluj and Beas to India. So we were bound to have less water, hence Mangla and Tarbela were built. But it was clear even at that time that construction of these two dams that these were not the final solution beacause high silt load from himalayas meant that effective storage would decline over time and that it was necessary to build further storages to replace this loss.

Will new dams effect the environment adversely..?..yes they will..but these environmental(and social) impact are manageable....it can be argued that the benefits these large dams bring far outweigh their harms, specially for a country like Pakistan, which is both water stressed and energy starved.

As far as small dams are concerned, they certainly would help, but cannot replace the need for large dams, they can only supplement them.

** Cheap electricity can be obtained through solar system, air, sea water and coal. In fact Punjab wants to build Kalabagh dam as it wants to turn Sindh into desert.

Cheap electricity can be produced from gigantic Thar Coal deposits in Sindh. It is sufficient to meet the requirement of Pakistan for eight centuries...yes...eight centuries but Punjab and notorious and corrupt WAPDA both are main hurdle in it.

 

[M K Sial]

All Pakistanis are requested to compelled might Punjab to implement "Water Accord - 1991" in letter and spirit which envisaged to release of 10MAF water downstream Kotri to save Indus delta from untimely demise as it would have formidable repercussions on Pakistan otherwise. Non-release of water has inundated 2.6 million of acres land in Sindh due to sea intrusion as per Sindh Govt if situation remained unchanged, historical city of Thatta and Badin will disappear in next 20 years.

Three out of four provincial assemblies have passed about 10 resolutions against building of Kalabagh dam in Punjab but Punjab is bent upon to prove people of three out of four provinces are against their own provinces and also Pakistan. But might-Punjab is only well-wisher of three provinces and also Pakistan. What a hypocrisy! This is dangerous trends which must be abandoned for the better future of Pakistan.

Further dams like Kalabagh are not meant to collect flood water due to technical reasons as per irrigation experts including Enauttallah Gandapur, ex-chairman IRSA (1993-1998). Efforts are being made to mislead the nation by providing wrong information so much prime minister Gillani also issue wrong statement: Had Kalabagh dam in place, flood devastation could have been averted." It was effort to mislead the nation deliberately. Prime Minister Gillani should know he is Prime Minister of Pakistan, not of Punjab!

 

[SekrutYakhni]

All Pakistanis are requested to compelled might Punjab to implement "Water Accord - 1991" in letter and spirit which envisaged to release of 10MAF water downstream Kotri to save Indus delta from untimely demise as it would have formidable repercussions on Pakistan otherwise. Non-release of water has inundated 2.6 million of acres land in Sindh due to sea intrusion as per Sindh Govt if situation remained unchanged, historical city of Thatta and Badin will disappear in next 20 years.

Three out of four provincial assemblies have passed about 10 resolutions against building of Kalabagh dam in Punjab but Punjab is bent upon to prove people of three out of four provinces are against their own provinces and also Pakistan. But might-Punjab is only well-wisher of three provinces and also Pakistan. What a hypocrisy! This is dangerous trends which must be abandoned for the better future of Pakistan.

Further dams like Kalabagh are not meant to collect flood water due to technical reasons as per irrigation experts including Enauttallah Gandapur, ex-chairman IRSA (1993-1998). Efforts are being made to mislead the nation by providing wrong information so much prime minister Gillani also issue wrong statement: Had Kalabagh dam in place, flood devastation could have been averted." It was effort to mislead the nation deliberately. Prime Minister Gillani should know he is Prime Minister of Pakistan, not of Punjab!

You are utterly wrong in the previous post when you stated that Sindh will turn into desert. What kind of monkey told you that all of Sindh will turn into desert? You, illiterate and "limited edition" minds, open up your eyes. I am living in Canada and you know what? There is an electricity plant being built in a city which will supply electricity to the adjoining areas. Although there were environmental concerns raised by the residents of that city, no one went on by saying that why should our city sacrifice for others. You know why did not they raise that issue? Because they are mentally literate and can understand the benefit of it rather than bashing like you.
Give me an answer to this question.
I agree that "PARTS" of Sindh will have a negative impact but guess what? If we don't divert water (limited amount) to Punjab particularly the agriculture land than how will we cultivate that land after 50-100 years? Supposedly, Indian and Pakistani Punjab are called 'bread basket' of South Asia in the west. Think in a greater sense rather than limiting yourself to Sindh vs Punjab.
You know why we have been unsuccessful to become a nation?
It is because people like you. We don't need people in Pakistan who brag that Sind is Ma, Punjab is Dad, NWFP is Afghani or Balochistan is a separate entity.
We need dams to fulfill our requirement and in order to run our 'bread basket' we have to do sacrifices. Didn't you do any sacrifice for your family? If you did than why are you bragging about this now? Aren't you a Pakistani or should I say, are you a Sindhi Ma type person?

Sooner or later, we will eliminate all those bastards who talk about their province including self righteous Punjabis. It is the best time for you to change your pathetic mentality or you will be in the line of the fallen ones.

We have to do sacrifices in order to save our bread basket. Kia kia cheez import karo gay 50 years baad? Sugar, rice, wheat everything?

Think about the country and the affects after 50 years rather than bragging about Sindh Ma will turn into desert. By the way, Sindh includes Karachi and you think karachi will turn into desert?
Are you in your right mind?

If I was the President Of Pakistan, I would have killed every single Punjab dad or Sindh ma type person even though they were innocents. NO ONE in Canada talks about Ontario vs Alberta other than Quebec having issues. Some Punjabis are on my list too, don't worry. We should have given gas to Balochistan at first because it was their provincial asset but we have to forget the mistakes, sometimes--and improve our future.

Now, I will use your own language: Why are you even talking about Sindh, don't you know about her pathetic politicians? They are the same people who are responsible of destroying certain Balochi areas after the floods. Didn't you see that picture? blink-blink

Those politicians who tried to save their Sindh ma land should be lashed and hanged in Karachi because they are responsible of killing innocent Balochis.

World is on the moon, they are talking about houses on the moon, giving land to the people. On the contrary, pathetic punjabi dad and NWFP Afghani are living in 15th century. Grow up!!!!

If my sacrifice can feed 10 people than so be it. If my life can help 100 people than I am ready to kill myself. Think about the FUTURE! If you don't divert water to agriculture land than how will you feed your future generations?

Your comments were so pathetic that I lost all my intellectuality/sanity in few seconds. PLEASE, we don't need your 'Sindh will become desert' type comments because it is not possible. If you don't care about Pakistanis and their future generations than we don't need you! Go and brag Sindhi ma in Bermuda!

 

[arihant]

It's like fighting between two states.

Probably M K Sial is right. If they wish they can develop electricity through coal, solar system too.

Initially dams used to be built for electricity and now the same is built for canals and all diversion.

India and Pakistan are in high solar radiation area and therefore building a solar plants would be most beneficial here. If I remember Govt. of India is proposing a 2000 Units (each unit of 5MW -90 MW) in Thar Desert (Rajasthan) that would be produced electricity of around 15,000 Megawatt. I suppose this is equal to Pakistan's total installed capacity.

So, If Pakistan is really facing Electricity crises they should develop solar plants which is most ideal and fasted growing sector in this world with avg. growth of over 35 percent.

And lastly about water stolen, this news are very common whether its state or country. But thank god, we Indian are not facing this problem till now but we should be ready to do something stop anything such in future.

 

[SekrutYakhni]

It's like fighting between two states.

Probably M K Sial is right. If they wish they can develop electricity through coal, solar system too.

Initially dams used to be built for electricity and now the same is built for canals and all diversion.

India and Pakistan are in high solar radiation area and therefore building a solar plants would be most beneficial here. If I remember Govt. of India is proposing a 2000 Units (each unit of 5MW -90 MW) in Thar Desert (Rajasthan) that would be produced electricity of around 15,000 Megawatt. I suppose this is equal to Pakistan's total installed capacity.

So, If Pakistan is really facing Electricity crises they should develop solar plants which is most ideal and fasted growing sector in this world with avg. growth of over 35 percent.

And lastly about water stolen, this news are very common whether its state or country. But thank god, we Indian are not facing this problem till now but we should be ready to do something stop anything such in future.

Dam is not only about producing electricity but it will also help fertile the land.

Punjab 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 to the whole country.
The annual outflow of water into the Arabian Sea is considered a "waste" in Punjab, which feels that water can be used to irrigate infertile lands.

So, if Punjab is able to get more water, the whole country will thrive as we will produce more wheat, you name it!

 

[SandsofTime]

@Saad
The Punjab perception of water going to waste is not correct. Read the posters again. People need to be educated about the adverse effects of the dam on the river delta rather than plainly labeling it as "wasted water". The valve cannot simply be turned off downstream. The damage would be immense that people simply don't realize. Lots of livelihood depends on it. I get that any province progressing is best for the country. However you need to realize that the affected people cannot simply be expected to migrate en masse to a different place since their current means of living no longer exists. A a proper cost benefit analysis is needed to mitigate these problems. Steps are needed on how to best preserve the environment along with other concerns. That said I do support the construction of big dams but other concerns should also be taken into account.

 

[v9s]

@Saad
The Punjab perception of water going to waste is not correct. Read the posters again. People need to be educated about the adverse effects of the dam on the river delta rather than plainly labeling it as "wasted water". The valve cannot simply be turned off downstream. The damage would be immense that people simply don't realize. Lots of livelihood depends on it. I get that any province progressing is best for the country. However you need to realize that the affected people cannot simply be expected to migrate en masse to a different place since their current means of living no longer exists. A a proper cost benefit analysis is needed to mitigate these problems. Steps are needed on how to best preserve the environment along with other concerns. That said I do support the construction of big dams but other concerns should also be taken into account.

"Wasted water" hahah what BS.

People need to realize that if the "wasted water" stops flowing into the sea, the sea water will push inland and contaminate below-ground sweet/soft water sources and on top of that, seriously damage the river delta:

Dams built for hydroelectric power or water reservoirs can reduce the sediment flow. This reduces the formation of beaches, increases coastal erosion (the natural destruction of cliffs by the sea), and reduces the flow of nutrients from rivers into seas (potentially reducing coastal fish stocks).
Water pollution: An introduction - causes, effects, types, and solutions

The use of water upstream can greatly increase salinity levels as less fresh water flows to meet the salty ocean water. While nearly all deltas have been impacted to some degree by humans, the Nile Delta and Colorado River Delta are some of the most extreme examples of the ecological devastation caused to deltas by damming and diversion of water.

River delta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[M.AKRAM NIAZI]

Kalabagh Dam a need of Citizens of Karachi.
Disease of Provincialism in Politicians of NWFP and Sindh is mainly responsible for power shortage mayhem and the resultant chaos in the society due to tormenting blackouts and long power outrages.
Importance of Electricity Versus Wastage of Water for Feudals.
Why opposition on generation of electricity by Kalabagh Dam in which no water is wasted but provide option of safe storage of water for future use. Electricity is the need of each and every minute and moment of human life, people can not tolerate outage of electricity for one hour while agriculture land can tolerate need of water even many weeks, but why importance to agriculture of few feudals and no importance to electricity which is the need of each and every citizens of Pakistan generally and Karachi specially, because life of all citizens of Karachi(city of lights and Industry) revolves around provision of cheap electricity.

• Children weeps in the night due to high temperature and mosquitoes bite due to outage of electricity,
• Students can not study in night due to outage of electricity.
• Industry can not run without electricity.
• Machinery can not run without electricity.
• Surgeons can not operate without electricity.
• A patient on life machine can not survive without electricity.
• Even in agriculture we can not use Tubewell without electricity.
• Fertilizer can not be manufactured without electricity.
• Pesticide can not be manufactured without electricity.
• Sugar Mills,Cotton Mills,Textiles Mills.Flour Mills,Rice Mills can not run without electricity.

Above points clearly indicates that use of water for generation of electricity is 1000 times better than wastage of water on land or in sea for few feudals, because water wasted in land or sea is not recoverable but water use for generation of electricity in Kalabagh Dam will be available for use for agriculture and Industry as it was suitable before generation of electricity and there will be no wastage of water.

Sindh,Balochistan and Frontier are against Kalabagh
because as per Sindh LOGIC Thar Coal is better than Kalabagh as Kalabagh will emmit BLACK SMOKE and Thar Coal will emmit fresh air full of Oxygen.
And as per Balouchistan Vision GAS and coal extracted from Balouchistan are one of the most clean source of energy and Kalabagh will pollute air and land resouces and people will drown in Kalabagh and no one is dying in the coal mines of Balochistan.
And as per Frontier wisdom, Royalty of Tarballa is so important that Pakistan can be broken for that and three rivers of Punjab can be sold to India by General Ayoub belonging from frontier for Construction of Tarbella in Frontier but Kalabgh dam is not good looking as it is in Punjab.
All provinces want Provincial autonomy but Punjab should open or close its canals , IIRIGATE ITS LAND AND construct Dams as per desire of other provinces and after asking from other provinces Because it is necessary for unity and prosperity of Pakistan as when there will be no agriculture,no electricity and no water then Pakistan will be more united and more prosperous.
From all above points it is clear that NWFP and Sindh who are opposing the generation of electricity and preservation and safe storage of water in Kalabagh dam are criminals of humanity as well as of World and politicians of these provinces are mainly responsible for shortage of electricity in the country and cities.


Written By:M.AKRAM KHAN NIAZI

 

[Hindutvadi]

• Children weeps in the night due to high temperature and mosquitoes bite due to outage of electricity,

mosquitoes are not battery powered...they bite even if electricity is there.
Anyways...dams are very important for every country.

 

[alibaz]

mosquitoes are not battery powered...they bite even if electricity is there.
Anyways...dams are very important for every country.

Well said

 

[alibaz]

"Wasted water" hahah what BS.

People need to realize that if the "wasted water" stops flowing into the sea, the sea water will push inland and contaminate below-ground sweet/soft water sources and on top of that, seriously damage the river delta:

I dont know why we go to extremes. Wasted water means, those millions of cusses of water that destroys everything in its way and falls into sea within few days and then all dry.
There is no doubt that a certain amount of water must flow down Kotri to control sea water coming up the river and cause loss to under ground water and river life. So the best way to ensure minimum desired flow, is construct dams and allow minimum required water to flow throughout the year.

 

[tarrar]

Yes we should build it. We have enough resources in Pakistan that can support our Pakistan without anybodies help for yearsssssssssss. Pakistan is having unlimited resources but if we explore only then we can find them. But unfortunately the foreign powers and lobbies are completely controlling this. I don't know kai kio hum nai apnay ap ko itna bai bas kiya hua hai is kai liya responsible awam hai jo hamesha corrupt leaders ko chance per chance daity rahty hain. WHY???????

 

[VCheng]

Yes we should build it. We have enough resources in Pakistan that can support our Pakistan without anybodies help for yearsssssssssss. Pakistan is having unlimited resources but if we explore only then we can find them. But unfortunately the foreign powers and lobbies are completely controlling this. I don't know kai kio hum nai apnay ap ko itna bai bas kiya hua hai is kai liya responsible awam hai jo hamesha corrupt leaders ko chance per chance daity rahty hain. WHY???????

Is it so that people get the government they deserve?

 

[rohailmalhi]

Compare the benefits we are going to have with the construction of Kalabagh.
The foremost benfit is water storage , seceond is electricity productions , it helps in stopping the flood water like it did .
Punajb suffered with floods just coz PK and sum illiterate sindhi politicians are doing topi drama to use this issue for doing the politics.If we had this dam in place just imagine the damage done by the recent floods would be half .as it can store more than 6 million cusec of water .
The point of sind delta is valid but the thing is we have see which thing is more important , having water when we need it or wasting it .

 

[Waffen SS]

Yes, Pakistan should build dams but not "KALABAGH DAM".

Any attempt to build this controversial dam would lead to unimaginable anarchy and bloodshed.

We will not keep quite over this and some will eventually be up in arms. Don't play with fire, it will burn you.