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.