THIS is apropos of the news report, 'Diamer-Bhasha Dam project gets go-ahead' (Nov 12). The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved $12.6 billion Diamer-Bhasha Dam project with year 2016 as the completion deadline.
It is claimed that Pakistan is going to set another record (after the Tarbela Dam — 485 feet high) in hydropower engineering by building the world's highest roller-compacted concrete Bhasha Dam. Surprisingly the ministry forgets that the Tarbela Dam (1976) was later termed as “perhaps the world's most problem-stricken major dam” in technical terms (The World Bank and large dams, failure to learn from history World Bank Report # 4). The same report suggests that the Bhasha site being located in the highly unstable seismic zone in a narrow valley of the upper Indus could be vulnerable to some extraordinary safety hazards.
The dam debate is not new in Pakistan but it acquired more heat when Pervez Musharraf announced a series of dams on the Indus. During his military dictatorship, Bhasha was a priority in two planning documents Mr Musharraf's Water Vision 2020 and Wapda's Vision 2025. Mr Musharraf visited the entire county to convince people but he failed.
On the other hand, major partners of the present coalition regime, including the PPP, the ANP, the PML(N) and the JUI (F), were struggling against the building of large dams, under the banner of Anti-Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam Action Committee (ATC&KBDAC).
That alliance of 16 mainstream political parties was perhaps the largest opposition alliance in the history of Pakistan on the one-point agenda of 'No further cut on the Indus'.
The PPP was the convener of the alliance. Now the PPP government has adopted the same notorious 'vision' of Wapda without realising its political principles and commitments.
While considering the proposals of construction of future reservoirs, the first and foremost thing is to ascertain reliable surplus water availability for storage after accounting for all the existing uses, including water accord 1991 allocations and commitments. It is also necessary to know the sources of water availability, the quantum of water available, so as to have a clear picture of the reliable availability of surplus water for storage.
Before announcing any new dam the government must consider the report of the Technical Committee on Water Resources by A.N.G. Abbasi, which has given comprehensive recommendations on surface water availability for future reservoirs and irrigation schemes and filling and operational criteria for Mangla reservoirs, role of constitutional bodies like CCI, Ecnec, Irsa and Wapda and other critical issues.
ZULFIQAR HALEPOTO
Secretary, Sindh Democratic Forum Karachi
