KalabaghDAM

For the past so many years of its planning and designing, the objectives and goals of Kalabagh Dam (KBD) have been shrouded in secrecy, and the Federal Government’s blind following of the project, against the wishes of the three provinces of the federation, has made it the most controversial issue of national integrity.

The project is being pleaded as a turning point in the direction of national development, whereas the provinces see it as step towards the diversion of common resources towards the development of one province (Punjab), leaving all the rest to the possible negative impacts perceived from the project.

The matter becomes more complex in the present state of better possible alternatives, having greater development potentials and lesser negative impacts on any of the federating units of Pakistan.

One of the reasons for creating controversy and difference of opinion on the project is attributed to WAPDA’s failure to adequately consult the provinces at the project planning and design stage, since the provinces were kept in complete darkness about the design parameters of the dam, till the completion of its detailed design in 1984-85.

To further fuel the issue, statements from responsible officials of the federal government, the Punjab and WAPDA, first declared Kalabagh Dam as only a storage dam to offset the storage loss of Tarbela and Mangla Dams, due to sedimentation. Followed by reasons of rise in fuel costs and the consequent increased costs due to thermal generation, pleading the ultimate requirement of cheap hydel power. And, to further confuse the issue, the project was declared to have plans for a Left and Right Bank canals for irrigation purposes.

In the backdrop of all these events, the role of beneficiaries/affectees has been totally ignored. For which, they have every right to ask for the public disclosure of all the relevant facts regarding selection criteria, planning parameters, design guidelines, cost estimates, environmental and socio-economic assessments, government’s priorities, and financing mechanism of the planned construction. And it becomes more important for projects towards the harnessing of shared water resources, like that of River Indus, and for the equitable distribution of their benefits among the federating units as well as their short and long term impacts on their individual as well as collective lives.