Since Kalabagh Dam cannot be built, site can be utilised for barrage while reducing its height from 910 feet to 830 feet
Water, dams and barrages have become a paramount issue in the country for a number of reasons – India’s unilateral and illegal suspension of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, the sharp differences between provinces in Pakistan, climate change, population explosion and the absence of a comprehensive water security and management policy at the national level.
Being an agrarian economy, over 90 per cent of water is used for agriculture, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the GDP and employment of nearly 42 per cent of the labour force in the country. The availability of a reliable water supply is crucial for the food security of nearly 250 million people. The per capita availability of over 5000 cubic meters per year at the time of Partition has come down to less than 1,000 cusecs per capita per year. Over 5.5 million are born every year, which has also contributed to water issues. The gap between water availability and demand is also widening every year, and is projected to widen by 35 per cent in 2025, indicating a massive increase in just one year.
The Water Distribution Accord of 1991-92 regulates water distribution between provinces. Unfortunately, the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not pay due attention to the accord when it was formulated.
The province was allocated 8.78 million acre feet of water, but it could not consume it in its entirety. At the time, serious consideration should have been given to the unutilised water, but that was not done. Three million acre feet (MAF) of water have been going down the river annually unutilised by KP for the last 33 years.
The accord should have contained a provision that to compensate for the unutilised water by a province, the federation will build small and medium dams in the province, besides schemes for rain harvesting. This was a serious oversight. Limited water storage capacity for managing seasonal variations is a serious issue. The country can store only about 30 days of river water compared to the recommended 120 days for countries with similar climates. The shortfall in storage capacity is aggravated by silt accumulation in the Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs, hampering our ability to buffer against droughts and manage floodwaters.
In 2001, district nazims of 24 districts in KP were invited by the then president of Pakistan. At the time, I was also the district nazim. During the meeting, the Kurram Tangi dam in KP – the site for which had been identified during the British Raj in 1880 – also came under discussion.
Convinced that a sum of Rs300 million was absolutely necessary for the dam design-related works in the PSDP 2002/2003. Unfortunately, nothing has been done until today. The reasons cited for not undertaking the project are ‘security concerns’. It is a travesty that, for the past nearly quarter of the century, the state has not been able to ‘secure’ the site for the construction of this vital project.
Work on the Diamer Bhasha Dam (Live Storage Capacity: 6.40 MAF) and the Mohmand Dam (Live Storage Capacity: 1.68 MAF) is already underway. The Mohmand Dam is likely to be completed by the end of this year, and the Diamer Dam Project is planned for completion in 2029. Pre-feasibility studies of other major proposed reservoirs, such as the Akhori Dam and Skardu Dam, have also been conducted. The Katzarah Dam, proposed near the Shyok, Shigar, would be the country's largest dam with a total capacity of 35 MAF and an installed capacity of 16000MW. Construction for the Katzarah Dam, which stands at 860 feet, began in 2024, and its opening is planned for 2034.
After completing these projects, the additional water storage in the Indus River System (IRS) would be around 72.9 MAF. As per the 1991 Accord, the share of KP would be around 10.2 MAF. If no storage reservoirs are built, the unutilised water of KP will be 13.2 MAF a year..
At the current rates, one MAF is more than Rs80 billion. Hence, KP will lose a staggering Rs1056 billion each year. Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan have benefited from the first allocation and will also benefit from the second one, while KP has not even been able to fully utilise its first allocation to date.
Future water management plans include constructing and expanding several dams, such as the Akhori, Mangla (raising), Mohmand, Basha, Skardu, and Katzarah Dams. These projects are expected to add 13 million acre-feet of water capacity. We need to focus on water storage plans. Artificial lakes need to be developed for water storage and the installation of pumps to provide water to the fertile lands of the southern districts and D I Khan. This forward-thinking approach will ensure sustainable water management for the next 30 to 50 years, which will be sufficient for regions like D I Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Karak and Kohat and all southern districts, afflicted with militancy..
The provincial government needs to discuss with the federal government the expansion and development of the irrigation infrastructure in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as make investments in the construction of additional water storage structures. Since the Kalabagh Dam cannot be built, the site can be utilised for a barrage while reducing its height from 910 feet to 830 feet. With the approval of the CCI, a canal of appropriate width can be built. This barrage would have 32 gates to manage flooding, and its height would allow water distribution by gravity to areas downstream, such as Dera Ismail Khan. The canal base should be big enough to carry 13 million acre-feet of water in the future.
I strongly urge the CM of KP to make a case for building a barrage on the Kalabagh Dam site and including it in CPEC 2. The construction work may be entrusted to Chinese engineers, who have built over 22,000 dams in their country. The largest dam in China is the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province, which has tilted the Earth’s axis by half an inch due to the weight of water.
The writer is a former MNA and provincial minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.