Apprehensions of Sindh:

1 .No surplus water available to fill dam.

2. Sindh will be turned into a desert.

3. High level outlets to divert water.

4. Sea water intrusion.

5. Mangrove(various large and extensive types of trees) forests are threatened.

6. Fish production and drinking water problems.

Answers;

1.  Dams don’t consume any water

2.  Instead these store water during flood season and then make it available on crop demand basis for the                remaining dry periods.

3.  in order to revive the mangroves, real need is for replanting salt tolerant varieties with provision for controlled          doses of fresh water. Obviously, this possibility would be much enhanced with an upstream storage facility          like Kalabagh.

4.  A recent study has shown that there is no clear evidence to suggest that fisheries stocks in the river reach         below Kotri have declined due to progressive reduction in the surface water supplies. On the other hand, fish         production has been constantly increasing as indicated by statistical data. As such, Kalabagh Dam is unlikely     to have any adverse effect on fish production in the area.

5. In the riverain area downstream to Kotri Barrage, groundwater is predominantly saline or brackish and as such    unsuitable for either irrigation water supply. After Kalabagh, winter supply in the river would improve thus              assuring more drinking water.

     

      s       So all the apprehensions of sindh and other provinces are wrong and self made because some politicians

               dont want to see pakistan as a developed country.

 

    d

KALABAGH Dam Project Apprehensions Of NWFP

1) It is feared that historic flooding of peshawar valley including nowshera would be aggravated in the event of recurrence of 1929 record flood

2) Drainages of surrounding area of Mardan, Pabbi and Swabi plains would be adversely affected by the reservoir thus creating water logging and salinity.

3) Operation of Mardan SCARP would be adversely affected.

4)  Fertile culturable land would be submerged.

5)  Large number of people would be displaced.

 Answer:

1) In the modified design of the project the resorvoir conversation level has been lowered by 10 feet from 925 to 915 feet above mean sea level (MSL) thus eliminating the need for construction of any protective dyke near Nowshera.At maximum conservation level of 915 feet , the back-water effect of Kalabagh Lake would end about 10 miles downstream of Nowshera. A state-of-art computer based study backed by physical modeling in Pakistan, has established that recurrence of record flood of 1929 would not affect the water level at Nowshera even after 100 years of sedimentation in reservoir. It may be noted that this completely ignores the effect of Tarbela reservoir, which is now factually providing relief by attenuating flood peaks. It is also notable that flood warning system at Tarbela provides a minimum of 48 hours advance warning before the arrival of large flood peaks.

2) Real causes of flooding at Nowshera and Peshawar Valley upstream are entrance of Kabul river at Nowshera into confined channel at the end of peshawar valley; and backing effect of Attock Gorge downstream through which Indus River has to pass after its confluence with Kabul river. Before the confluence, Indus River flows through a wide valley of over 8,000 feet and is then forced to pass through 1000 feet wide george for 5 miles. This constriction forces the river water to back up thus raising flood levels in Kabul l River up To Nowshera. Whereas Kalabagh should not adversely affect flooding in Nowshera Peshawar Valley above, an upstream dam on Swat River could provide effective assurance against this chronic inherent problem. . Consequently, Munda Dam multi-purpose project is being included in NWRDP.

         
So look at the numbers of under construction dams in different countries including Pakistan,i think pakistan is the only country where people are against the dams,we should think for pakistan not for our own benefits and support the projects that are important for pakistan.

Feasibility of kala bagh dam

“Kalabagh Dam would guarantee sufficient and cheap electricity,” said the official adding that thermal power costs Rs16 per unit, where as hydel power costs Rs2.5 to Rs3 per unit.

“The big dams are needed to overcome the issue and the country would suffer severe water crisis if they were not built

According to a study, the Kalabagh Dam will have the capacity of generating 3,600MW of electricity which will save $4 billion annually for the country, excluding the 30 percent line losses.

Meanwhile according to a conservative estimate, about 30 million acre foot water is being wasted into the sea because of absence of big water reservoirs and the dam was causing the country a loss of Rs132 billion annually.

“The recent floods in Pakistan caused more than $45 billion loss which could have been averted if big dams were operational,” the official said.

Need of dams in pakistan

Unfortunately politicians are not addressing this issue seriously. Most of them are running away from reality or don’t know the reality. The reality is, that no country can survive without water specially country like Pakistan which is an agricultural country. Our water reservoirs are decreasing badly and our lands are being converted into deserts. Most of our development purely depends upon water reservoirs and we couldn’t increase water reservoirs since more than two decades while on the other hand India is continuously making dams on Pakistani rivers and snatching our water. So in this scenario we must have to increase our water reservoirs as soon as possible to irrigate more and more land and increase production which is necessary for an agricultural country. By making KBD we can also cope with energy crises and save our dying industry as well as we can save hundreds of billions rupees spending on oil import every year.

In all over the world, every country plans and complete such types of developmental projects in the vast interest of their nation and whatever the reservations there may be, have been removed tactfully by the governments. Unfortunately in Pakistan, there are people who are working on different agendas and “working hard” to spread provincialism and sectarianism. It has become a trend that if a plan is proposed by a province, now it is the duty of politicians belongs to other provinces to oppose it without thinking that it’s a national project and every citizen of the country will get benefit from it. KBD will provide electricity to whole country and it will even make possible to irrigate the millions of acre barren lands of Punjab, Khyber Pk and Balochistan. It’s just a fear and misunderstanding that Sind will face shortage of water. There will be enough water available for usage as we already throwing more than 35 MAF of water every year as a waste into the Arabian Sea.

If kalabagh dam were built

 Then do you see those protests in almost every street every road of the country showing people crying for electricity and water? No, certainly not. 

The proposed Kala Bagh dam is purely an economical and developmental plan not only for a single province but for the whole country. This is not my statement, but worlds well known experts says that it is the best and most favorable plan with respect to the location, storage capacity, energy producing and irrigation benefits for Pakistan. It has a water storage capacity between 6-7 MAF and can start producing 3600 MW of electricity in just 3 years at the cheapest rate of nearly 1 rupee per unit. Moreover it will irrigate more than 20 million acres of wasteland which boost up our agricultural production and lesser the risk of food shortage , and also during construction and after commissioning it will create about 30000 jobs. It could also reduce the intensity of disastrous flooding along the Indus.

Reasons of Non-Development of kalabagh dam:

It has become a trend that we politicize every matter without thinking its actual aspects either positive or negative.We likes to involve personal ego and party politics in every national issue in such away that it becomes a war of life and death for us while the actual matter goes into the background.Exactly same we did with the Kala Bagh dam.

The Kalabagh Dam  is a proposed hydroelectric dam on the Indus River at Kalabagh in the Mianwali District of Punjab Province in Pakistan. Intensely debated and deemed a necessity since its inception, if constructed the dam would have 3,600 megawatts (4,800,000 hp) of electricity generation capacity.