Kalabagh Dam-The Facts,
Tariq Mushtaq
Allah has blessed Pakistan with numerous resources,
water is one of those gifts. To understand its importance it is necessary to
have knowledge on the following:
- What number of dams and
reservoirs are designed on all the rivers and how much work has been done
on them.
- What is the real picture and
what are the facts about Kalabagh Dam. Why it is important, necessary and
essential for our country.
- What are the objections
raised by some political parties against Kalabagh Dam, and what is the
factual position?
At the time of independence, our newly formed
country had no infrastructure of power generation. There were only small diesel
or coal powered generation plants in various cities, but to meet the major
requirement we were dependent on India. In 1958 when Field Marshall Ayub Khan
took over the government, with all the other important steps, shortage of power
was also taken as a very important issue and work on war footing was started.
As already stated we are blessed with many natural
resources, especially water. We have five rivers and number of subsidiaries
which can give us sufficient power as well as huge water reservoirs for
irrigation, if properly planned. Ayub Khan’s Government gave full attention
towards this side and started immediate survey for suitable sites for the
construction of hydropower projects, water reservoirs/dams, headworks and
barrages as soon as he took over the government in 1958. Within a short period
of six months a complete study was formed stating the number of places and
sites where dams on river Indus and river Jhelum could be constructed as well
as sites and places where barrages can be constructed on rivers Chenab, Ravi
and Sutlej.
First of all, we will go through the study on river
Indus. According to the study, only on river Indus we could construct
hydropower projects, water reservoirs/dams and barrages at fifteen (15)
different sites. The study also revealed that there were certain sites which
were more important and where the development work could be started with
immediate effect. Following this study, two sites on river Indus were selected
for dams where we could avail power generation facility as well as water
reservoirs which would be linked to canals for irrigation purpose. One site was
Kalabagh, which was a natural dam and the other was Tarbela. On river Jehlum,
Mangla was selected for immediate implementation. The other reason to select
these sites was that these were almost in the centre of the country from where
the cost of electricity distribution network would cost less and the controls
would be easy, secondly, from water reservoirs, water would easily be connected
to the canal system used for irrigation. In 1959, immediate work was started at
Mangla Dam site.
On the other side Tarbela was preferred over
Kalabagh. There were two reasons; one , the cost of Tarbela Dam was higher than
the Kalabagh Dam, and financial help from the World Bank was required, whereas
cost of Kalabagh was less and could easily be meet with by our own resources.
Second reason was political disturbance created by Raja George SikandarZaman
who was in opposition of Ayub Khan and had a high influence in Haripur area
where some land were to be acquired by the government. It was decided that as
Ayub Khan being in power, the people of the area will cooperate, but later on
when Ayub Khan may not be in power, this man having high influence in the area
may be a hindrance in the construction of this dam, as well as Khanpur Dam
(only a reservoir dam), which was also constructed during that time.
So, work on Tarbela and Mangla Dam was immediately
started. Mangla was to generate 1100 megawatts with a water reservoir of 5.5
million acre feet and Tarbela was planned to produce 3490 megawatts electricity
with a water reservoir of 11.09 million acre feet.
Dear readers, before going into further details, it
is important to understand the flow of rivers and the places they fall into
each other. Starting with river Swat which flows from Kalam to Nowshera for 12
months with an enormous quantity of water. At Nowshera it falls into river
Kabul which is coming from Afghanistan, crossing through Peshawar. From
Nowshera these two rivers jointly fall into river Indus at Attock. From Attock
bridge, the flow of these two rivers can easily been seen, Indus in blue colour
and the other two in mud colour. They go a long way side by side then
ultimately merge into each other.
From Attock to Kalabagh, there is no place where
this enormous quantity of water flowing from three rivers can be stored.
Kalabagh is the only place where this water can be stored.
From Kalabagh reservoir, water can not only be used
for generation of electricity but can also be utilised to irrigate the barren
areas of KPK, Sindh and Balochistan. The site of Kalabagh is a natural dam,
which can be constructed in much less time with less cost than a regular dam.
It can store and preserve all that water flowing from rivers Indus, Swat and
Kabul, which at present is going waste and falls into the Arabian Sea. It’s a
sheer negligence of our governments and leaders that since long we are wasting
this gift of the Nature which can be very useful for irrigation and can also
generate electricity for the national grid. Practically, it’s “kufran e
namet”.
Bashir A Malik, former chief technical advisor to
the United Nations and World Bank, said, "Sindh and Pakhtunkhwah would
become drought areas in the years to come if Kalabagh Dam was not built."
At the same time, former KPK chief minister and former Chairman WAPDA Shamsul
Mulk has stated, "Kalabagh Dam would be helpful in erasing poverty from
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as it would irrigate 800,000 acres of cultivable land that
is located 100–150 feet above the level of River Indus." The Kalabagh Dam
would provide 6.5 million acre feet of water to cultivate seven million acres of
currently barren land in addition to the 3,600 megawatts (4,800,000 hp) of
electricity it would provide.
Experts who supported the construction of the
Kalabagh Dam at the 2012 "Save Water Save Pakistan" forum included Dr
Salman Shah, former finance minister Abdul Majeed Khan, TECH Society President
ShafqatMasood, former IRSA chairman Qayyum Nizami, former minister of state
Prof Abdul Qayyum Qureshi, former vice-chancellor of Islamia University
Bahawalpur Dr Muhammad Sadiq, agricultural scientist M Saeed Khan, former GM of
Kalabagh Dam Project Engr Mahmudur Rehman Chughtai, Mansoor Ahmed, former MD of
Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Foundation, Tariq Mushtaq, former KDB project
head, M. Zubair Sheikh and Jameel Gishkori, among others. The participants of
Save Water Save Pakistan demanded the construction of five dams, including the
Munda Dam, Kurram Tangi Dam, Akhori Dam and the Kalabagh Dam, at by 2025 at the
latest to store water and generate electricity to meet demand.
(A) JUDGMENTAL ERROR BY KPK:
Length of Kalabagh dam reservoir will be 80 km.
From there the Nowshera city is 110 km far, and if the dam is full to its ends,
the height of Nowshera will be 60 feet above that level. So, the story which
has been framed by a political party of KPK, that Nowshera will be submerged in
water and that too in the case of destruction of the dam , does not hold any
truth and reality in it, rather 800,000 acres barren land will be irrigated
with the raise in the level of the river. This area is 100-150 feet above river
level, when the level of the river is raised, it would be easily irrigated.
(B) SUSPICIONS OF SIND:
Around 1,000,000 acres of land in Sind will be
irrigated from the water reservoir of Kalabagh-Dam. The politicians and feudals
of Sind also have framed a story for their poor and uneducated people that if
Kalabagh Dam is constructed, river Indus will have no water in flow and sea
water will enter inside the river bed, damaging the lands. This is just a story
to confuse the poor farmers and small land owners, so that they don’t get
benefit of water for their fields, which can result them a better living and
educating their children. Actually the feudals have a fear that if these people
get education and better living, feudals won’t be able to keep them under their
thumb, so this sort of stories are spreaded.
In fact, Karachi and Sindh is seven meters above
sea level, so there is no question of sea water flowing back into the river.
Only at “delta” the sea water flows in at the time of “Mud-O-Jazr”. Secondly,
the bed of the river will not get dry, once the dam is filled, water flow will
be in routine and will remain as it is flowing now. Same way, huge area of
Balochistan will also get water for irrigation through this dam’s reservoir.
(C) INDIAN INTRUSION:
Indian Government is spending a huge amount against
the Kalabagh Dam. India doesn’t want that Pakistan ever builds this dam and
saves that water which at present is totally wasted and which would very badly
be required in the coming days. It is very unfortunate that many politicians
and feudals are on the Indian pay list just to oppose this dam.
Please note; in addition to irrigation, Kalabagh
Dam would also generate 3600 megawatt electricity, which when added in the
national grid will bring down the electricity cost. Delay in the construction
of this dam is criminal on part of the rulers, politicians and leaders, because
it is their utmost duty to look after the National Interest. People had no hope
from Asif Ali Zardari or his party, but Zia ul Haq and Pervaiz Musharaf could
very easy construct it, but they also became more political than the Rulers.
They also lost their national interest only for their lust of power and to
remain in seat for a longer time.
Dear readers, Let me explain that from Gilgit to
Kalabagh, how many dams can be constructed on river Indus, which have been
designed by Wapda and requires immediate attention as well as authoritarian
step of the head of the state.
1-BUNJI HYDROPOWER PROJECT
The proposed Project is located on Indus River 83
km from Gilgit. It is planned run of the river hydropower Project. This will
generate of 7100 Mega Watt, in two stages. First stage will start generation of
2800 megawatts and in second phase total 7100 megawatt will start generation.
2-BASHO HYDRO POWER PROJECT
The proposed scheme is along 1 km lower stretch of
Basho Lungma, a left tributary of Indus River. The confluence of Basho Lungma
with Indus River is located about 40 km downstream of north-west of Skardu town
and 704 km north-east of Islamabad. This Hydropower Project can generate 40 MW.
Its cost is estimated at Rs.91.243 million.
3-DIAMER BASHA DAM
The proposed project is located on Indus River,
about 315 km upstream of Tarbela Dam, 180 km downstream of the Gilgit-Baltistan
capital Gilgit city and 40 km downstream of Chilas city. The proposed RCC dam
would have a maximum height of 272 m, and impound a reservoir of about 8.1
million acre feet (MAF), with live storage of 6.4 MAF. Mean annual discharge of
Indus River at the site is 1977 cusecs. The dam will impound 15% of the annual
river flow. The project would cover an area of 110 square kilometres and the
reservoir would extend 100 km upstream of the dam site upto Raikot Bridge on
Sharah e Rashem. This hydro project can generate 4500 mega wall electricity.
4-DASU HYDROPOWER PROJECT
The proposed Dasu Hydropower Project is a run of
river project on the Indus River located 7 km upstream of Dasu Town, District
Kohistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The site is 74 km downstream of proposed Diamer
Basha Dam site and 345 km from Islamabad. Project will generate 5400 MW (15
Units @ 360 MW each) hydroelectric power. It will be completed in two Stages
(Stage-I&II). Stage-I will generate 2160 MW (06 Units @ 36 MW each) with
annual energy of 12,222 GWh. Stage-I will be completed in five years. The
project is being financed by the World Bank.
5-LOWER SPAT GAH HYDROPOWER PROJECT
The proposed Spat Gah is the left bank tributaries
of Indus River in Kohistan District, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. The confluence of Spat
Gah is located 8 km downstream of Dasu town, 35 km up stream of Patan town. The
Project is located 365 km from Islamabad and has the capacity to generate 496
MW hydropower.
6-PATAN HYDROPOWER PROJECT
The proposed Patan Dam site is located on the Indus
River about 4 km upstream of village Patan downstream of Keyal Khwar. The power
house is planned on the left bank 4 km downstream of Besham Qila and 305 km
from Islamabad. This project will generate 2300 MW electricity. Cost of this
project is estimated at Rs. 731.233 million (2013).
7-THAKOT HYDROPOWER PROJECT
This proposed hydro project is located in a narrow
section of Indus river, about 3 km downstream of Besham. Distance from
Islamabad is about 240 Km. It is designed to generate 4,000 MW hydropower
electricity. It cost is estimated at Rs. 719.628 Million (2013).
8-TARBELA DAM The project is located at a narrow spot
in the Indus River valley, at Tarbela in Haripur, shortly located at the point
from where the District Swabi then starts. Here the river formerly split around
a large island close to the left bank. The main dam wall, built of earth and
rock is the world’s largest earth-filled dam, stretches 2,743 metres (8,999 ft)
from the island to river right, standing 148 metres (486 ft) high. A pair of
concrete auxiliary dams spans the river from the island to river left. The
spillways, located on the auxiliary dams, in turn consist of two parts. The
main spillway has a discharge capacity of 18,406 cubic metres per second
(650,000 cu ft/s) and the auxiliary spillway, 24,070 cubic metres per second
(850,000 cu ft/s).
Hydroelectric power plant on the right side of the
main dam houses 14 generators fed with water from outlet tunnels 1, 2, and 3.
There are four 175 MW generators on tunnel 1, six 175 MW generators on tunnel
2, and four 432 MW generators on tunnel 3, for a total generating capacity of
3,478 MW. Tarbela Reservoir is 80.5 kilometres (50.0 mi) long, with a surface
area of 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi). The reservoir holds 11,600,000 acre
feet (14.3 km3) of water, with a live storage of 9,700,000 acre feet (12.0
km3).
A HIDDEN FACT ABOUT TARBELLA:
It is very important to note an astonishing fact:
Tenders of Tarbela Dam were opened in December 1966. The lowest tender was of
259 crore dollars while the others were of 296 crore dollars, 366 crore dollars
and 384 crore dollars. Ayub Khan’s government selected the lowest bid, but the
World Bank was not agreed to finance that company which basically was from
Italy and had collaboration with a German firm. Ayub Khan and the concerned
ministers had a meeting in this regard. Ayub Khan asked his finance minster
Muhammad Shoaib and a civil servant Ghulam Farooq Khan to confirm two things,
one, what is the international standing of the company and secondly, can the
Government meet the foreign component from its own resources. The answer came
within 48 hours that the company had a good standing in the international
market and that the Government of Pakistan can meet the foreign component from
its own resources. So, the world Bank was informed that we don’t need their
financial help. It was a great achievement, later on the World Bank also joined
and provided the financial help, but we started this dam with our own
resources.
This, I am talking about those persons who were
sincere to the nation and did not know the word “commission”, they used to
spend the national exchequer as a CUSTODIAN of the nation, they used to take
national exchequer as “amanat” of the people of the country. After Ayub
Khan’s regime, especially after 1977, it’s very sad that our Governments right
from Zia regime to the present regime, purchased everything by raising the cost
by double , triple and sometimes four times. Zardari regime is very notorious
in this regard.
Another commendable vision of the then rulers and
an admirable fact about Tarbela Dam is that it has five tunnels. Right now
generation system is attached only on three tunnels, which generate 3490
megawatts. In 2013, Nawaz Government started installation of turbines and
generators on tunnel Number four, which on completion will generate 1450
megawatt electricity, which when added in the national grid, will reduce the
cost of electricity which has been terrifically raised because of thermal
generation.
9-GHAZI-BHAROTA HYDROPOWER
Ghazi-Bharota Hydropower Project is a run of the
river project. Water from the river Indus enters into a canal from Ghazi and
falls backs in river Indus at Bharota after going through the generation of
1450 megawatt electricity. This project was designed by the Wapda engineers
without any foreign consultancy.
10-KALABAGH DAM
The Kalabagh Dam is a proposed hydroelectric dam on
the Indus River at Kalabagh in the Mianwali District of Punjab Province in
Pakistan. The dam would have 3,600 megawatts of electricity generation
capacity.
The Kalabagh Dam would provide 6.5 million acre
feet of water to cultivate seven million acres of currently barren land in
addition to the 3,600 megawatts of electricity it would provide.
Some people say that Basha Dam is a substitute of
Kalabagh Dam. It is very important to note that Basha Dam is no substitute for
Kalabagh Dam, not because of its altitude, which is high enough, but because no
irrigation canals can be taken out from it because of the hilly terrain.
Dear readers, from the above you can easily
determine and understand that we can generate 33,350 megawatt electricity only
from river Indus, double than our present requirement, which means very cheap
electricity and an industrial revolution. More over we can run railway on
electricity, which will save a lot of foreign exchange which is spent on the
purchase of diesel for railway engines. During Ayub Khan’s regime, an electric
train was started between Lahore and Khanewal, which after 1977 stopped working
and at present number of its installations have been stolen or disposed of,
very sorry, it’s a national loss, , it’s a state of sorrow, what else I can
say.
FROM ABOVE YOU CAN EASILY UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE
AND NECESSITY OF KALABAGH-DAM.
In 17th and 18th Centuries, countries had wars over
control of water and rivers, then in 19th Century wars were over territorial
controls. In coming days, once again, wars will be over control of water. Allah
has gifted us with plenty of water which can beover and above of our needs, if
we are able to control it and can make use of it in a proper way.
Dear Readers,
Kalabagh Dam is essential and indispensable for our
country, for our development, for our irrigation system and for the future of
our country.
It’s the foremost duty of our rulers, leaders,
politicians, technocrats, bureaucrats, philosophers, journalists and also the
general public to work on it and to tell India that despite their intense
interference, they can’t stop us from our development. It is the duty of our
politicians and feudals to tell them that they are not purchasable. If we are
able to construct Kalabagh Dam, it will be our great achievement and a grand
victory over India.
In my next script, I will explain about the Mangla
Dam, Neelum-Jhelum hydro project and all other sites where we can construct
hydel power generation plants on river Jhelum. I will also bring to the
knowledge of the readers about all the barrages and headworks on river Indus,
river Jhelum, river Chenab, river Ravi and river Satluj with the linked canal
system, which is really appreciable, exemplary and speaks about the vision of
our previous rulers specially Field Marshal Ayub Khan and his team, whom we
always call a dictator. And those who are unable to give anything to the nation
are taken as big followers of Democracy.
Democracy, which has given nothing to the nation as
yet. Let’s pray this democracy and people who are always talking about it are
able to act positively and give this nation at lease the required water and
electricity instead of hollow slogan.
The writer is a technocrat and
International Affairs Analyst
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