ISLAMABAD: Guddu barrage has developed major safety issues and it is feared that its gates will fail during normal operations within five years.

A recent feasibility study by an international engineering firm commissioned by the Sindh government indicates that there are “serious operational difficulties and safety issues” facing the barrage.

The barrage provides irrigation water to over 1m hectares of agricultural land in four districts of Sindh and Balochistan.

The report warns that up to 60pc of the steel of the 65 gates on the main barrage has been badly corroded; the lifting mechanisms have been badly corroded with a strong possibility of failure; the switch panels and power distribution network are in extremely poor condition and there is no back-up electricity supply system in case of power failure.

The barrage was commissioned in 1962 and has now seen over 50 years of active service and its rehabilitation and modernisation is urgently required, it recommends.

The study has been presented by the government to the World Bank with a request to provide a loan of $160 million for rehabilitation of the barrage.

The World Bank has shown willingness to grant the loan and it is currently evaluating the project. It is likely that the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank group will approve the loan by December, documents indicate.Currently, stress levels on the gates are in excess of the allowable design stresses during normal operation. Since the rate of corrosion cannot be slowed down, the report has expressed the fear that the gates may collapse in case of a flood which requires their opening and closing.

Such a failure would be catastrophic and affect water supply to the areas fed the barrage. Due to recent floods the upstream embankments were already breached, therefore, embankments around the barrage require upgrading to meet the new criteria, stresses the study.

Due its complex geography, Pakistan is included in the list of most climate-vulnerable countries. Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of extreme climatic events such as floods, and the spatial availability of water. The expected changes in river discharge rate will alter the physical forces exerted on the Guddu barrage and pose risks to its operation and safety and structural integrity.

With the possibility of higher river flows in future due to climate change and increased retrogression, project interventions are even more vital to ensure the safety of the barrage, the study warns.

The primary function of the barrage is to provide irrigation water to over 1m hectares of agricultural lands in the Jacobabad, Larkana and Sukkur districts of Sindh and Naseerabad district of Balochistan, by feeding the Ghotki Feeder and Rainee canals on the left east side and the Begari Sindh Feeder and Desert Pat Feeder canals on the right west side. The barrage is also used for river control and flood management. It has been designed to pass super-flood discharge of up to 33,980 cubic metres per second. The barrage is an important transport link across the River Indus and provides cooling water for the thermal power station at Guddu. Two major gas pipelines cross the barrage.