ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: The government is likely to rethink construction of big dams, particularly the Kalabagh dam, in view of a growing debate on the presence of geological fault line in the Kalabagh and Daudkhel regions that might have developed further in the Oct 8 earthquake in the northern region.
Informed sources told Dawn on Sunday that the issue had recently been raised in a meeting presided over by President General Pervez Musharraf and a reference had been made in this regard towards certain points raised by A.N.G. Abbasi, the chairman of the Technical Committee on Water Resources (TCWR).
Mr Abbasi, the sources said, had warned the government that it would be criminal to ignore Wapda consultants’ report indicating ‘Kalabagh Fault Line’ while taking a decision on the construction of large dams.
The Wapda consultants in volume-3 (Geological Facts) of their 1983 report had identified “Kalabagh Fault and Salt Diaprism”, raising risks about the construction of Kalabagh Dam.
The report in its conclusion had suggested that such faults could cause damage to the reservoir or any other structure in the Kalabagh and Daudkhel areas.
A very senior official in the ministry of water and power confirmed the presence of geological fault line in the Kalabagh region, but said it was a dead fault. However, he agreed that such a dead fault might have been reactivated in the Oct 8 earthquake. The government might have to go through a comprehensive study to ascertain the latest situation because the epic centre had come closer to Kalabagh region and a lot of zoning and rezoning was taking place, he added.
The official confirmed that the A.N.G. Abbasi report had informally been shared with the Punjab government to look into the subject and prepare its homework for a technical debate.
The report, however, has not been provided in any form with the rest of the three federating units.
The official said that even the existing Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs were also in the fault line and Bhasha dam was even closer to the volcanic region.
Mr Abbasi has, however, given preference to Bhasha dam over Kalabagh dam on the basis of other technical considerations.
“However, Bhasha (dam) has a definitive edge over Kalabagh Dam in terms of water storage capacity and power generation potential,” said the Abbasi report shown to Dawn by the power ministry official.
The report called for updating the feasibility studies of Kalabagh and Bhasha dams for all technical and geological considerations as the two dams could provide only two MAF (million acre-feet) of water per year and for rest of the time in 10 years, they would remain unfilled or dry.
The technical committee has, however, agreed with consensus that all the three canals including Katchi, Greater Thal and Rainee should be given lowest priority than the future storages.
Referring to another Wapda study, Mr Abbasi said storable surplus water was available for only 10 years of the 28 years of post Tarbela period. The carry-over dam of 35 MAF will utilize only 84 per cent of surplus water and it would be filled for three years of the 28 years and partially filled for seven years out of 28 years.
The Rabi season water availability in post Tarbela and Mangla has increased by 65 per cent.
