September 12, 2003	Friday	Rajab 14, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The country’s existing water storage capacity would reduce by 34 per cent by the year 2013 due to sedimentation if new reservoirs were not built.

A senior official of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) said on Thursday the storage capacity would be reduced by 40 per cent by the year 2020. The storage capacity has already decreased by 25 per cent since 1974, he said.

In a background briefing to newspaper editors and senior journalists, the official also responded to various concerns of the Sindh government on Greater Thal Canal project.

Responding to a question, he alleged that some private thermal power companies had reportedly been supporting and funding the anti-Kalabagh dam lobby fearing that the dam, if commissioned, would reduce their profit margin.

He said technically the Kalabagh dam was a fit case for development but a final decision has to be taken by the federal government. However, he believed that sooner or later the Kalabagh dam would have to be constructed.

The official said Kalabagh dam could be completed by 2010 but in case of Bhasha dam, the completion period would go beyond 2013.

Talking about the Greater Thal Canal (GTC) project, the official said around Rs14.8 billion out of a total estimated cost of Rs30.5 billion has so far been spent on the project.

He said Sindh government’s objection that it could not study in detail the PC-I of the GTC project was not justified because sufficient time for evaluation was given to all stakeholders and essentials of the project were discussed at least in ten meetings with the Sindh representatives.

He said the Sindh additional chief secretary was also present in the ECNEC meeting of Feb 28, 2002, that approved the project.

He said that Sindh had been demanding that any new canal should be in conformity with the 1991 water sharing accord while in fact the GTC project was specifically included in the water accord.

He said views of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) as demanded by Sindh were also obtained in May 2002.

The official said the name of the project was changed from Greater Thal Canal to Thal Flood Water Canal on the directive of the federal government, but was reversed to Greater Thal Canal due to objections from the Sindh government. The scope of the project, however, continued to remain the same.

He said that telemetry system had been installed on the GTC intake stage to ensure monitoring of the water flows. Works on the project was started after obtaining anticipatory approval from the ECNEC, he added.

The official said that all the provinces were free to utilize their water share according to priorities fixed by them and average annual water availability during the last 24 years was 35 MAF Kotri downstream, whereas requirement for Thal was 2.5 MAF, Kachi Canal 1.4 MAF and Rainee Canal 1.3 MAF.

After utilization of 5.2 MAF for the three canals, 30 MAF would be available for further development.

He scoffed at the suggestion that army general had bought land in the region where water from Thal Canal project would be available for irrigation, but admitted that the military had some lands in the area.

Responding to a question, he said big dams were still being opposed by environmentalists, but pointed out that China went ahead and constructed its Three Gorge Dam despite intense opposition from the US, and Indian government went to the supreme court to get a ruling to build Nerbedha dam despite the opposition from powerful environmentalist lobbies.