Water is the basic and the most sought-after commodity all-over the province of Balochistan but Makran Division where this resource is very very scarce is located 380 miles north-east of the provincial capital, Quetta.
Arian, the historian writing about the first-ever clue to the ancient population of Makran divides it into two factions, the coastals who depended mostly upon fishing and the locals known as Oratai.
To quote the famous Marcopolo: some people over here worshipped idols, but most of the population was Muslim. These people used to take rice, grain, meat and milk as their food and had vast sources of income. Various outside factions, most of them known as Baloch, had mixed with the local population of Makran over time.
Unfortunately, major parts of the vast land are almost barren due to the non-availability of water. The people of Makran Division live within their farm lands in the congested habitat of huts and plough the remaining part of the land.
These people keep on shifting from one place to another or the land they till after every five years and bring the land of their settlement under cultivation. The gypsy culture is not found in Makran when compared with other parts of Balochistan.
People only migrate to get better source of earning. These people mostly depend on farming, fishing, cattle breeding and the peculiar business of Balochi handicrafts.
Scarce water is the main problem of the Makran area. Most of the people are deprived of this basic necessity in this very backward area of the province. The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has therefore undertaken Mirani Dam on River Dasht, located at Ketch in Turbat district, as a fast track priority project aimed at providing sustained supply of water for agriculture and daily use of the people living in the area.
The dam is being constructed across the Dasht river at its confluence of Kech and Nihang rivers, some 30 miles west of Turbat city. This project forms part of the gigantic "National Water and Hydro-power Resources Development Programme: Vision 2025" and is one of the sites for construction of dams in this part as elsewhere throughout the country to bring the under-developed areas at par with the developed ones.
The project on completion will provide irrigation water to the lands on both sides of River Dasht. The river mostly depends on rains, averaging 4.2 inches annually, in the upper catchments area. The catchments area is surrounded by 6,960 square miles of barren mountains.
Salient features: The 127 feet high earth-fill dam with crest level of 3,350 feet will create a reservoir behind it with gross storage capacity of 302,000 acre feet and live (usable water) storage of 152,000 acre feet.
Right canal (236 cusecs) and left canal (141 cusecs) will command an area of 33,200 acres. The dam will have eight gates and a 1,490 feet long of 8 feet diameter which will not only help release water from the reservoir but also assist in flushing silt from the reservoir.
A controlling system would be constructed at the outer mouth of the irrigation tunnel to regulate 377 cusecs of water releases. The external structure to help distribution of water for irrigation will be divided into two parts to provide water to the canals off-taking from right and left sides.
The project would bring under irrigation 12,400 acres lying on the left and 20,800 acres on the right side of the dam. Total length of the canals, distributaries and minors is planned to be 82 miles whereas the total length of water courses will be 328 miles.
Based on the pre-project studies, the height of the dam has been chosen to minimize the environmental impact on agriculture lands, orchards and residential areas of local population merging into the water reservoir.
The project on completion is expected to help raise annual agriculture production by 85 percent - i.e. 36 percent in Kharif and 49 percent in Rabi crops, bring in greenery and prosperity to the region.
Progress: Physically, having completed the preparatory works like supply of electricity, sewerage and provision of clean drinking water, buildings etc, the contractor's and employer's facilities at site, 40 km long permanent access road from Turbat to the site, construction of the dam structures is underway.
The embankment dam work has been completed to the extent of over 19 percent along with the spill-way structure nearly 12 percent by end February this year. The review for intake structure and pressure conduit design has been substantially accomplished whereas design work of outlet control structure and irrigation system has been completed in the vicinity of 70 percent. The physical works are progressing as scheduled.
The funds were provided for the land acquisition to the Balochistan government and compensation has been paid to the land owners by the provincial government. It is note-worthy that the project has no foreign investment component.
Benefits: The construction of dam project has started accruing the benefits of employment opportunities to the local population. The project would play an important role in raising standard of the people of the area.
The unskilled local population has vast employment opportunities during the construction as well as in the post-construction period of the dam project. The water reservoir behind the dam can also be used for fisheries which would provide additional income to the people.
Afforestation and plantation around Mirani Dam reservoir has also been chalked out which would help reduce the effect of dust storms and tornadoes as well as minimize evaporation from the reservoir. Mirani dam is a beginning to bloom an oasis in the far off area of the country, a beacon for the tillers.
