THE noise of gushing water made conversation difficult — not that anyone was in the mood to indulge in frivolous talk considering we were standing over the magnificent Tarbela dam’s service spillway, with the sight of the frothing water frightening and fascinating in equal measure.

Behold the mighty Tarbela, considered the world’s largest dam constructed out of clay and stones, converging and concentrating the water of the Tarbela Jheel.

The journey here was not easy. As far as the motorway from Lahore to Islamabad could take us, the road was smooth. But as we took the dilapidated track off the highway and entered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the journey slowed down. The route was rough, but scenic, with jagged crevices and rocky waterfalls.

The arrival of Kala Dhaka was pompously announced by an overwhelming brick wall, barbed wire and all, with a few lone snipers positioned here and there. The construction raised questions and when we asked the locals crossing the domineering structure, they nonchalantly said that this was the place where American Black Hawks made a stop before they carried out the operation against Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in May 2011.

After the long journey, we needed refuge for the night and passed through the Ghazi hamlet which, after sunset, was deserted save for a few dozen stray dogs. The men in our group were warned strictly by our host to not venture out alone. Security tightened further as we passed the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology and entered the colony on the right bank of Tarbela Jheel where Wapda officers have their residences. Sleep came easy that night.

A place of contrasts, I would call Tarbela. I stood over the service spillway comprising nine gates, with only a few open at that moment. When we crossed the short distance to the other side, in startling contrast was the Tarbela Jheel — its calmness and serenity was jarring in comparison to the turbulent water on the other side. And this contrast extended far beyond Tarbela’s waters.

Residents of the surrounding Wapda employee neighbourhoods had two complaints absent from their discourse: water shortage and loadshedding. Even so, all did not bide well for the thousands of people displaced, those whose land had been acquired for the construction of the dam — those absent from the public eye. It is believed that around a hundred villages were displaced; locals swore that several of the village structures remain intact under the water.

In July, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights was informed that a large percentage of the people affected by Tarbela dam were still deprived of their rights, their resettlement pending. It was a discomforting thought that I pushed to the side while I took in the magnificence of the structure on top of which we were situated. No one wanted to leave; it was only when we spotted a security guard headed towards us to discourage us from taking photographs that our small group quickly headed on.

Not far from the service spillway I spotted impressive construction equipment but not enough activity; it revealed itself to be the site of Tarbela’s fourth extension project. As we drove closer to the spot we first passed a small lane obscurely labelled “Chinese camp”. According to the locals, this is where the Chinese involved in the construction of the extension project live and as we drove on, we saw a number of Chinese persons enter and exit the camp. They no doubt live a disengaged life, completely disconnected from the local population, and connect with them only in controlled doses, if and when the need arises.

The track further on was bumpy. We came upon a board that declared the Chinese company at the hub of the extension project — the Sinohydro Group Ltd. Some of the projects the company is tasked with at Tarbela include the “raising of Tunnel 3 & 4 intakes, design, supply, installation, commissioning and [the] testing of penstock and manifold, intake gate equipment, trash racks, new low-level gates and steel linings and as well as construction of [the] powerhouse connecting to existing tunnel 4.”

Inaugurated in 2014 by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and slated to address the energy needs of the country, the completion of the extension project was promised by June and the official inauguration was scheduled for August 2017. According to the Sinohydro website, however, the project is now expected to be completed in 2019.

Delays are expected, but construction on the new powerhouse was also halted for an indefinite period after six persons, including three Chinese men and a Pakistani engineer, were killed when scaffolding at the construction site came down some time ago.

As we drove over the cofferdam, a watertight enclosure pumped dry to permit construction below the waterline, we saw only a few faces lingering at the construction site, with no particular task at hand. Activity at the site, as well as actual progress on the project, was minimum; as we drove away, the realisation hit that the dream to eliminate loadshedding is still precisely that.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2017