January 19, 2003	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1423

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SWABI, Jan 18: The 1,000 cusec water of Pehur High Level Canal (PHLC), which is expected to be released into the Maira Branch of the Upper Swat Canal, already running with 800 cusec water, in February, would cause breaches in the latter at various points.

Sources in the irrigation department and PHLC told Dawn here on Saturday that some breaches had already occurred in the Maira branch canal during the testing of regulator No. 11 at RD 96,000, when about 400 cusec water discharge was allowed in the canal in March 2002, which was much less than its designed discharge.

These breaches, the sources said had forced the superintending engineer of Northern Irrigation Circle, Mardan, to write a letter (2224-281, dated March 21, 2002) to the PHLC chief engineer, irrigation secretary NWFP, irrigation department, project manager PHLC and executive engineer irrigation Swabi.

The letter, a copy of which was made available to this correspondent, reads: “Efforts have been made to highlight the inherent defects in the system, which need to be taken care of immediately by Wapda authorities and their contractors before any further testing is carried out. If these shortcomings are not redressed there is the likelihood of repetitions of breaches of canal on many other places resulting in heavy losses to the public property”.

Another letter said: “Consultant and Khyber Grace (Maira branch canal contractor) were found strengthening the bank (of Maira branch) in fill. It is common opinion that the slop 1.4 adopted for the outer side of the bank is not sufficient and the banks (of Maira Branch) are susceptible to failure. The canal may result in colossal damages to the population in the area if run without improving the outer slope of the banks.”

After these breaches and repeated demands, the sources said, only two feet raising of the banks of the Maira branch was done by the Khyber Grace.

Later, the sources said, a variation order of Rs20 million had been issued by the PHLC chief in September/October 2002 for the construction of C grade “Pushtas” and three or four inch more un-monolithic raising, but it is also not sufficient.

The sources said the shortcomings included insufficient freeboard, choked up catches water drains, insufficient lining if fill, improper location and crest levels, insufficient top width of bank, poor locking of outlets and uncontrolled flow of Jalar outlets and the external interference would further aggravate the safety of the canal due to the creation of new regime and remodelling of the canal.

EXPENSIVE GATES: A total of 13 expensive automatic gates, which were designed in Italy, have been installed, on the PHLC and Maira branch and the officials of Wapda and irrigation department had visited Italy before its recommendation.

Of the 13 gates, five have been installed on PHLC and eight on Old Maira branch. Due to failure of the gates, the sources said, the consultants have themselves excavated the side banks and installed GI pipes for ventilation purposes of the gates which were not properly functioning.

When contacted, an official of Khyber Grace, construction firm, said that the problem was that the Turkish Construction Firm (STFA) had given one design and they had given another but when asked about the danger of breaches, he said: “I cannot say anything about that”.

However, a high-ranking official of STFA said that the automatic gates would work properly and the installed pipes would make the gates’ operation smooth and balanced, and the downstream would be controlled.

DELAY IN OPENING: The inauguration ceremony of the PHLC and water releasing has been delayed when joint leakage was observed in the stub tunnel (Mufti Tunnel) and Gandaf Tunnel.

The Wapda chairman, the sources said, had ordered that the whole affected area should be reconstructed and a two-month delay had occurred due to the strengthening chemicals, which had not cleared by the Daubi airport staff.

Now, sources said, all the tunnels have filled on Jan 11 and the testing of the remaining canal would continue until the date was fixed for the inaugural ceremony.

TOTAL COST: The total cost, the sources said of the PHLC, was Rs6,460 million. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had financed it 83 per cent and the other 17 was provided by the NWFP government.

During the construction, the sources said the project had created 21 million labour days.

BENEFITS: The PHLC is an irrigation project to augment supplies in about 88,500 acres in the command of Upper Swat Canal (USC) system, provided full irrigation development to about 11,000 acres of the mainly rain-fed land in Topi and reclaim waterlogged area of 14,800 acres under of Maira Branch of USC through tile drainage, offtaking from Gandaf Tunnel, which was constructed along with Tarbela Dam.

According to an estimate additional Rs1,300 million would be earned annually, which can easily be judged from the fact that the increase in the agriculture production would be: wheat 27,000 metric tons, maize 28,000 metric tons; tobacco 17,00 metric tons; and sugarcane 384,00 metric tons.