Those who oppose Kalabagh should remember that the dam will give another 2.2 MAF to Sindh.
LAHORE: If the Kalabagh dam was the first dam being built in the country, one could understand the apprehensions about it. However, with two dams already in operation and with proven track records, it is difficult to understand the opposition to Kalabagh except for purely political reasons. Mangla was built to compensate for the loss of the three eastern rivers and it brought about a green revolution in the country. By trapping the surplus flows in the Indus, the Tarbela dam supplies to the canal network increased by 25 per cent. Sindh got an additional seven million acre feet (MAF) of water with which it was able to cultivate 2.7 million additional acres of land.
Those who oppose Kalabagh should remember that the dam will give another 2.2 MAF to Sindh, which it cannot get from anywhere else.
Engr Khurshid Anwer
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2012.
