1.

Kalabagh Dam an overview

The project of Kalabagh Dam was launched in 1984 during the
military regime of General Zia-ul-Haque. It was planned to
complete in 1994. The estimated cost was about 4.9 billion dollars.
Although still in shelf huge sums of money 1.3 billion rupees have
already been spent on it.

2. Kalabagh Dam Issue:

Water is essential for sustaining the life on

earth. Achieving the food supply and
improving the quality of life totally depend
on the availability of fresh water. The
decreasing quantity and increasing demand
of fresh water widen the gap between its
availability and demand. This gap could be
fulfilled by constructing additional water
reservoir.
There is continuous rift over water among
all provinces of Pakistan.
o The province Punjab is emphasizing in
the construction of Kalabagh dam for
better use of 38 million acre feet water
dropping to sea.
o The three other provinces, Sindh,
K.PK and Baluchistan are opposing
the Kalabagh dam for royalty related
issues.
o Sindh also objects that the storage of
Indus water would seriously affect her
delta ecosystem.
o Provinces are in fear of losing their
share of water, blaming each other
without knowing the reality and prefer
their own interests over national
interest.

Stance of KPK: Kalabagh dam is to be built on

Indus river. But K.P.K. objects that it will be
dangerous for Nowshera in case of flood
Stance of Sindh: While Sindh is of the view that it
will have to face water shortage in case of building
any new dam on Indus river. These are two main
hurdles in the way of its building.

Other points against construction of Kalabagh Dam

Supporters of Kalabagh Dam

River Indus is over flowing with extra water which can be

obtained via dams. This is absolutely wrong, because there
is no extra water in Indus, delta region of Sindh is already

Supporters of Kalabagh Dam say that lot of water is flowing

in to the sea each year and that is wastage of water. By
constructing Kalabagh Dam they would be able to save that
water yes the water goes in to the sea if it is extra.

Effetcs of Delay in Construction of Kalabagh Dam on Country

Economy:

Millions of labourers and farmers have become unemployed.

A big area of uncultivated land cannot be cultivated owing to

the shortage of water and energy resources.

Factories and mills are facing closure. Our agricultural and

industrial production is not competitive in international
market because of high prices of electricity.

We are producing electricity from thermal resources.

Thermal projects are very expensive because these are run by
oil and gas.

Options Other than Kalabagh Dam:

There are many other dams which can also be built.
o Basha, Munda, and Okori dams are some important
projects of water reservoirs.
o They can give us cheap electricity, which will be
helpful in getting rid of load shedding.
o They can also provide us additional water, which will
cultivate vast area of land.

Explanation
Provincial Clash: Energy crisis or load shedding is the most
critical issue for Pakistan. This critical issue always force us
to think about the building of kalabagh dam and other
reservoirs. But two provinces of Pakistan, Sindh and K.P.K.
are strongly opposing the construction of kalabagh dam. Our
economy has suffered a lot due to load shedding and not
building dams.

facing disaster. The sole purpose of this project is to divert

the natural flow of water to some specified areas of Punjab.
It is being stated by WAPDA that the storage capacity of
Kalabagh Dam would be 6.7 MAF. However this too is a
myth. The reality is that apart from storing 6.7 MAF of
Indus water a further 12.8 MAF water will be diverted left
and right bank canals to facilitate irrigation in Mianwali,
Khushab, Jehlum and Dera Ismaeel Khan districts of
Punjab. Hence a total of about 19.5 MAF of Indus water
will be taken away.

o If we keep on relying on thermal units, it will be

disastrous because oil price are getting higher and
higher.
o Furthermore, we are also facing shortage of natural
gas too. Experts say that we can also fulfill our
needs by constructing smaller dams.
Conclusion:

The fact is that energy and fresh water shortage will be the
most problematic issue for the world in future.

This issue can be very dangerous thing for Pakistan, if we do

not use our potential wisely.

We have rivers but we dont built dams.

That is why, we are facing load shedding and water shortage.