 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
 |
|
 |
| Kalabagh Dam not abandoned |
|
|
|
Thursday, May 15, 2008
ISLAMABAD: The Kalabagh Dam project has not been abandoned but only the work on the project has been delayed on political grounds, a senior official told The News here on Wednesday.
"It is one of the five mega projects envisioned by President Pervez Musharraf and its construction will be started as soon as political issues are settled," Dr Akhtar Awan, member energy of the Planning Commission, said. "It has always been on the cards," he added.
Dr Awan said the feasibility of the project had already been completed and its construction would start as soon as the apprehensions of the provinces were removed. He said neither the project had been abandoned nor work could be started on it. He admitted that the cost of the project would increase because of the surge in the oil prices in the international market.
"However, the new cost of the project would be determined only after getting a go-ahead signal on the project," he said. When The News approached General-Manager (planning and development) Wapda Dr Muhammad Siddique, who is also the project director of the Kalabagh Dam, he also gave a similar response.
"We have not yet been asked to start work on the project and would do so as soon as we are asked by the government. Definitely, the cost of the project has increased but nothing final could be said as yet. A final estimate could be given only after getting a green signal from the government to initiate the work on the project," he said.
Pakistan's economy largely depends on agriculture and its 35 million acres land is irrigated by canals and tube wells. The average annual water availability for canal withdrawals progressively increased from 67 to 105 MAF (million acre feet) between 1947 and 1976 to meet the ever-growing demand. This increase was achieved with the construction of water reservoirs at Chashma, Mangla and Tarbela. "After the completion of the Tarbela reservoir in 1976, there has not been any further increase in canal withdrawals, although, the population growth continues. On the other hand, the gross capacity of Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma reservoirs had depleted by 5.15 MAF by 2006. The process of sedimentation will continue and it is estimated that the gross storage loss will reach 6.22 MAF by 2012," an official in the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock pointed out.
"With the growing population and depleting water resources, Pakistan is fast heading towards a situation of water shortage and threat of famine. The per capita surface water availability for irrigation was 5,260 cubic metres per year in 1951. It had decreased to 1,100 cubic metres per capita in 2006 whereas the minimum water requirement to avoid being labeled a 'water-starved country' is 1,000 cubic metres per capita per year," he added.
The official, who wanted not to be identified, said as such Pakistan would reach the stage of "acute water shortage" by 2012, where people would fight for every drop of water. Therefore, he said fresh storages have to be built to replenish the lost capacity to save the country's agricultural economy from total disaster by producing food grains for the rapidly increasing population.
According to the Water Sector Investment Planning study, Pakistan will face a deficit of 12 million tons in total grain production in 2012-13, which is 31 per cent of the projected target, the official said. Such a large-scale deficit could not be bridged simply by improving the farming practices and technology, he added.
"The irrigation supplies scenario by 2012-13 would be critical, and would become increasingly disastrous year-by-year thereafter. Hence, there is an urgent need of more storage dams," the official said.
"To meet these challenges, Wapda prepared a grand development programme known as the Vision 2025 Programme for Water Resources and Hydropower Development. The Kalabagh Dam project is a component of this programme, which will be undertaken by the Wapda for the benefit of the country.
Engineering studies of the project have already been completed and it could be taken up for implementation. The project will provide irrigation water to meet the demand of food production and cheap electrical energy for our growing population."
Enumerating the project objectives, the official said it was aimed at compensating for the storage lost due to the silting of the existing reservoirs and providing additional storage and regulation on the Indus for management and timely supplies of water for the crops.
He said its secondary objective was to generate large amount of low-cost hydroelectric power near major load centres, increase the energy and power output of Tarbela power station as a result of conjunctive operation of Tarbela and Kalabagh reservoirs and to regulate and control the extreme flood peaks of the Indus to alleviate flood damage downstream.
|
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
