Water politics: ‘Ignore Tarbela, construct Kalabagh’
Punjab Forum says Kalabagh will cost less and last longer than any other dam in the country.
ISLAMABAD:
The Punjab Forum asked the government on Monday to abandon its plans to revive Tarbela Dam and focus on the construction of Kalabagh Dam, which, according to the forum, will cost less and last longer than any other dam in the country. An independent Chinese consultant hired by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) to conduct a feasibility study for desilting the Tarbela reservoir was of the opinion that desilting is not an economically or technically viable option. “The report clearly states that such a move can damage the country’s largest power house and reservoir,” said President Punjab Forum Baig Raj. The report adds that instead of undertaking such a massive exercise, it would be more economical to build a new dam of the same size and capacity. Raj said that Tarbela Dam has an estimated lifespan of 50 years; it would complete its designed life by 2029 while the Kalabagh Dam has a life of 450 years.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2013.
Now that the PPP minister for water and power has given details of the multi billions that Kalabagh dam will yield, the PPP government must either go ahead with the project or tell the people why they are to be deprived of the said billions, is it because the whole of Sindh and half of Punjab is dead against the project, who is it who has turned these people against a project which is a win-win for all, or as is more likely, is there going to be a pin drop silence on the part of the government as before.