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| May 04, 2007 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1428 |
Balochistan warns Wapda over Mirani resettlement plan
ISLAMABAD, May 3: The Balochistan government has warned Wapda of serious political and social problems if resettlement plan relating to the Rs5.8 billion Mirani Dam project is not implemented in a transparent manner.
Dawn learnt on Thursday from reliable sources that the warning followed the submission of a revised settlement plan by Wapda to the federal government demanding Rs741 million more for the purpose.
Wapda needed funds for the compensation of land, housing, infrastructure and other required facilities to the adversely affected population of the project.
According to the sources, the provincial government wanted a "fully transparent" process, given the growing requirements and complexity of resettlement in the area.
The Mirani dam was included in the three-year plan approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) on June 7, 2001. The Balochistan government is understood to have expressed fear that in case of delay in the implementation of the resettlement plan, opposition parties could exploit the issue in the province that had already been plagued by anti-government activities, particularly after the death of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti.
The main objective of the Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) is to develop a compensation framework and a policy for the resettlement/rehabilitation of the affected people of the Mirani Dam by quantifying the affected land and land-based assets to adopt appropriate mitigation measures for the likely impacts of the project.
The RAP of the Mirani Dam has been prepared under policy guidelines and procedures developed by the federal government involving involuntary resettlement. It called for providing certain living standards and income earning to the displaced people by encouraging community participation.
Due to the construction of the Mirani dam, the environment of the area has been affected for the upper riparian, which included resettlement and land acquisition, as well as for the lower riparian, which meant water rights, etc. However, the study conducted by Nespak remained silent on the resettlement action plan and was more biased towards the lower riparian which forced Wapda to address various aspects relating to the affected population and their resettlement.
The RAP for the Mirani Dam project presents all the requirements to relocate the affected people. The total area which will be submerged under the reservoir at 244 ft is about 17,982 acres. The RAP also includes resettlement and compensation for houses between the Canal Command Area and the lower riparian area of the river's reach 235 miles downstream up to Jiwani.
"All large water sector projects have their impacts, particularly on the population, land and land-based assets. The Mirani dam too will have significant impact, which in some ways is treated as unique," says a Wapda resettlement plan, a copy of which was also made available to this correspondent.
Besides depleting the productive agricultural land, there will be manifold impacts on the local community, a cross section of income levels, living resources and living standards which would give rise to multi-dimensional socio-economic problems, the plan said.
Out of the total of 17,982 acres of land, the affected people of 7,669 acres have already been paid compensation, whereas the affected people of the remaining area, which is 10,313 acres, are yet to be compensated.
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