Punjab to suffer losses due to KBD! What?

By Idris Rajput (Former Provincial Secretary Irrigation, Government of Sindh, and Member of IRSA from Sindh Province)

Translated By Mushtaque Rajpar (for those who cannot understand Sindhi)

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in his recent address to a public meeting in Noshehra, NWFP Province, said that in order to meet water shortage we are going to construct Kala Bagh Dam and Bhasha Dam, but first we have to construct KBD. Rejecting concerns of NWFP and Sindh, Musharraf said, Dam is not going to have any negative effects on Sindh and NWFP. ‘It is a wrong impression to think that construction of the dam will damage Noshehra district of NWFP’ he insisted.

Earlier on 3rd March 2005, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, approving five-year development plan in the National Economic Council meeting, allocated Rs 360 billion for constructing Bhasha and other dams in the country.

On the other hand, opponents of Dam are leading protest marches in Sindh, PONM, an alliance of nationalist parties of Pakistan, is holding public meetings while Awami Tahreek has stared month-long protest march from Sukkur to Karachi.

Here I would like to comment on some of the issues and points raised by Gen. Musharraf, in his Noshehra speech at Public Meeting.

Musharraf claims

1 Sindh will not suffer any loss due to the construction of Kala Bagh Dam

I do not understand what ‘damage and loss’ means to our president, here are some of the points that Sindh has been saying for years against Kala Bagh Dam.

- Due the natural change of the course of river, there is no additional/surplus water in the Indus River to fill the dam, it is insane to suggest that Rs. 300 billion costing dam will be kept empty if there is no water.

- If the dam is to be filled during the water-shortage time, then whose share will be curtailed and reduced, obviously of Sindh Province.

- Dam is to store 6.1 Million Acre Feet (MAF) water, where as its discharge through canals shall be 8 MAF, that means outflow will be higher than inflow, how come Sindh is going to get any water from this dam?

- Water storage in the dam will reduce flow of water in Indus, this reduction in flow, will deprive around 0.5 Million acres of land in Kacha area (land on both banks of river) will no more be irrigated, as the sole source of irrigation of this land is sufficient flow of the river (ideally floods). It must be noted that Kacha land is best for cultivation that give higher yield as compare to other lands, most of that is under water-logging and salinity.

- Mangroves are best protection defence wall against sea-intrusion, which is also major source of food for livestock and forest species. With reduced flow of water, around 0.3 million acres of land is to be affected.

- Seafood, such as prawns and fish, will be greatly reduced due to reduced inflow into the sea.

- Reduced river water inflow in the delta region will severely damage the lives of delta community, their means of survival, such as the livestock and even sweet drinking water.

- About 0.3 million forest in Kacha area are to affected

- With reduced water-inflow in down stream Kotri to coastal area, sea is rapidly encroaching towards inland, already over 1.2 million acres of land is completely under sea, with dam at upstream sea is likely to increase its intrusion.

- Once the dam is constructed, normal flow in the river will be low, reducing its banks, and incase of flood losses will be beyond control.

- Reduced water flow in the river will negatively affect under-ground water level, consequently less cultivation on the tube wells and water pumping machines.


2 Construction of the Kala Bagh Dam is not going to make NWFP suffer losses

Contrary to the president’s assertion, NWFP will have to face these problems:

- Noshehra district will drown in water

- Irrigated lands will get affected with salinity and will turn into barren, especially of the districts that are nearer to dam’s site.

- It will be hard to continue Mardan Scarpe

- A huge number of the people are to be displaced from areas nearer to the dam

Are these not the damages and losses which the Sindh and Frontier will suffer?


3) Of negative affects on Punjab of dam!

Punjab is so restless to construct the dam that its provincial assembly passed resolution favoring the construction of the dam.

President Musharraf, during his visit and pubic meeting in Sialkot, told to the people that very soon he would tell people good news of constructing Kala Bagh Dam.

- According to the Pakistan’s constitution, Punjab will get royalty from the electricity generation from this dam.

- On the left side of the bank, a canal is proposed to be constructed to irrigate estimated (2,87,310 acres of land) two lacks eighty seven thousand and three hundred ten acres of land. That canal will supply irrigation water on the upper side of Rasool Barrage, and northern areas of Punjab will get water from Indus River.

- All the construction contracts are most likely to go to residents of Punjab province, large-scale employment generation will also benefit to local people of Punjab.

- After the completion of the dam, official staff would be required to run the project, naturally all these jobs will go to the people of Punjab.

- Dams are like lakes, which are good source of fishing that benefit too will go to Punjab.

Despite all these benefits that the construction of the dam will give to people of Punjab, it is very strange to hear from General Pervez Musharraf that Punjab will suffer losses from the construction of the dam, or may be we are unable to understand ‘the losses’ to be suffered by Punjab!

(Published in Sindhi Daily Kawish, Hyderabad, March 11, 2005)