KALABAGH DAM (A Blessing or a Curse for the Nation)

The Kalabagh Dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam planned is built on the Indus River by the
Government of Pakistan. The proposed site for the dam was situated at Kalabagh in Mianwali
District of the Punjab province, bordering the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Kalabagh Dam will have water from rivers Sindh, Kabul and Swan. Its height will be 925 feet
from the sea level. It was planned to be 245 ft from the river bottom and had a capacity of 20 ft
to fight out the flood but it was reduced to 10 ft. at the protest of Sindh and NWFP. The height
has been thus reduced to 915 feet. It will have the capacity of 6.9 million acre feet of water. But
it will have the reserving scope of 77.7 million acre feet. It will collect, according to the amended
plan 1.6 million acre feet of water.

As regards financing 40% of the whole expenditure will be paid by Pakistan. The remaining 60%
is expected to be contributed from World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development
Bank, governments of America, Japan, Germany, Kuwait and others. 159712 acre of land will be
affected as per initial works schedule with the dislocation of 100 villages of Kohat, Nowshera
and Swabi. It will cover 134500 acres of land as per revised plan.

Kalabagh Dam project developed into a seriously conflicting issue which has almost been
violently opposed by the three minor provinces, namely Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan, and very
hotly supported by the largest province i.e. Punjab.

According to some small controversial groups, the tailender has a legal and natural right on river.
However it has been nullified by Indians who are building 62 dams in Kashmir virtually drying
up the entire river. They claim no dam or reservoir can be built without permission and
endorsement of the tailender, i.e., Arabian Ocean. In the case where the tailender is not using
water, i.e., building a water reservoir, a reservoir can be made upstream.

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.

Punjab wants not just Kalabagh, but also two more large dams on the Indus, at Bhasha and
Skardu/Katzarah. It feels that the Kalabagh site is the most favorable, compared to the other two,
and that it should be built first. Bahawalpur and Bahawalnagar will get most of the water stored
in Kalabagh Dam.

Punjab's view is that a dam of above 3GW production can finish all the energy crisis of Pakistan.
Overall, it will help Pakistan to grow further as electricity produced by water is cheapest
compared to all other resources.

The power-hungry of Islamabad and Lahore point to Kalabagh's large energy output as a major
benefit to the nation. The key point in their argument is that public hydel power has been
historically substantially cheaper than current private thermal power.
The Flaws in This Argument Are Many.

First, hydel power is cheaper only if the capital for dam construction is obtained at heavily
subsidized interest rates, and those adversely affected are compelled into accepting miserably
low compensation and wholly inadequate resettlement (such as in Tarbela). Second, hydel power
will not come cheap if the turbines lie silent for four of every five years. Third, unless Islamabad
reneges on the private power contracts and fails to complete the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower
Project, or launches into an unlikely hyper growth, there are no realistic scenarios of a power
supply shortage that requires another major dam. Fourth, there is no likelihood that additional
"cheap" hydel power will be distributed across the country in proportions anywhere close to the
widespread burdens of Kalabagh dam as a "national" project.

Alternatives are there. If only electric power was the problem, there exist better sites in the high
hills. The construction of hydro-electric power generation plants, for example at Bhasha, is the
most appropriate answer. The site will not create any population dislocation, use crop area as a
pond or cause any environmental hazard. Never-the-less, Ghazi Barotha Power Project is under
construction and would give a little respite before demand for more power is created.

Technical Aspects: The Kala Bagh is said to rely for its intake water on the drainage of Kabul
River, Swan River, Kurram River and general area in the potwar. Ironically, the rains in this area
are not as much as the estimates present. There are pockets of high rains and pockets of low rains
- virtually no rains. The dam shall have to depend upon utilizing the waters released from
Tarbela Dam. Its repercussions are not being appreciated at the moment. The calculations based
on total water availability are fallacious. The reliable data of the catchment is not available. Even
the estimates that are aimed at establishing the viability of dam show that only once in sixty five
years water would be available to fill the dam to its designed height. This too would be possible
if all the waters from Tarbela were released.

If they are sincere, what should dam proponents do about a better understanding of their case?
First, government and its agencies need to come clean with all documentation about Kalabagh.
Second, prepare additional documentation to publicly disseminate realistic estimates of dam
benefits, damages, and both direct and indirect costs -- not just their scale and probability but
also to which groups in what areas of the country.

Most independent analysts believe that the foremost problem with the proposed dam at Kalabagh
is one of a "trust deficit between the Punjab on one side and the other three provinces on the
other". All Pakistanis agree that Pakistan faces a severe water shortage, and that some form of
water management must be implemented soon. Many point out that even if work on Kalabagh
were to start tomorrow, it would still take at least eight years to complete and commission such a
large dam. In the meantime, the water situation would continue to worsen. Smaller dams,
barrages, and canals must be built before that, and water conservation techniques introduced.

Article Written By:

Syed Hareem Ul Hasan
CAMS PECHS Campus