Inevitable Diamir Bhasha Dam - Requirements, Reservations and Challenges
The gigantic project remains a bone of contention of the political discourse.
(WebDesk/DunyaNews) - After all the studies, researches, national and international estimations and investigations, all experts, stakeholders and the nation converged to the single point of the inevitable need of the reservoir like Diamir Bhasha Dam to sustain the availability of water and electricity for future generations. Inaction or the delay in operation may result a severe insufficiency of water by 2025.
The experts say that the proposed project upon completion would serve the following key purposes:
(i) Produce 4,500 megawatts of electricity through environmentally clean hydropower generation
(ii) Amass an extra 8,500,000 acre feet (10.5 km3) of water for Pakistan that would be used for irrigation and drinking
(iii) Extend the life of Tarbela Dam located downstream by 35 years
(iv) Control flood damage by the River Indus downstream during high floods.
The Diamir Bhasha Dam Project
Site
The Diamir Bhasha Dam project site is situated between the Gilgit Baltistan’s district Diamir and Khyer Pakhtun Kha’s district Kohistan. The Dam will be built on Indus River, about 315 km upstream of Tarbela Dam, 165 km downstream of the Northern Area capital Gilgit and 40 km downstream of Chilas.
Height and Capacity
The proposed dam would have a maximum height of 270 m, and impounds a reservoir of about 7,500,000 acre feet (9.25×109 m3), with live storage of more than 6,400,000 acre feet (7.89×109 m3). Mean annual discharge of Indus River at the site is 50,000,000 acre feet (6.2×1010 m3). Thus the dam will impound 15% of the annual river flow. The dam project would cover an area of 110 km2 and extend 100 km upstream of the damsite up to Raikot Bridge on Karakoram Highway (KKH).
The proposed model for the Diamir Bhasha Dam under CPEC.
The History of the Diamir Bhasha Dam Project
After the construction of Tarbela and Mangla Dam, Pakistan is set to construct another giant Dam project. The gigantic project remains a bone of contention of the political discourse. The project still is taking rounds in the convoluted circles of mismanagement, deficiency of financial and strategic resources, political will and proper leadership.
Every government in its tenure tried to resolve the issues obscuring in the construction of the Diamir Bhasha Dam but every attempt in the struggle sooner or later lost tempo.
In the reign of President Pervaiz Musharaf
In 2006, Pervaiz Musharaf first laid the foundation of the hall mark project. He had announced to construct 5 multi-purpose storages in the country during next 10 -12 years but due to ill-will and improper planning and dearth of required arrangement, work on project one after another delays and postponements could not be initiated.
In the tenure of PPP
The former Prime Minister of Pakistan again in 2011 re-initiated the Dam project. In the PPP’s tenure, the work on the project began with purchasing the lands from the native people which allegedly became a nuisance due to massive corruption. Local administration along with the officials of WAPDA, were charged with the allegations of fraud, bribery and dishonesty.
In the government of PMLN
Later in the government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led PMLN government, major steps had been taken to debug the malfunctioning and mismanagement worsened the crucial and vital project to overcome the severe dearth of water and energy.
These efforts resulted fruitful and the land to start the construction of the dam is almost done and the work can be initiated now. The locals have already been remunerated 55 bn rupees in this regard.
The Reservations on the project of the Diamir Bhasha Dam
Besides the evident and stated need of the project, political circles and the natives still have few reservations over he construction of the dam which are required to be addressed to overcome all the challenges minning the way of Diamir Bhasha Dam, Some of the most highlighted are:
- The site of the Diam Mir Bhasha Dam is historically a rich and archaeological site. The place is a paradise of ancient civilizations and heritage of former empires which are no less than a treasure to the experts of archaeology. These inscriptions of ancient civilization would be vanished forever and ever with the construction of Dam over the proposed site.
- Approximately 100 km of the Karakoram highway will be swept underwater after the construction of the Diamir Bhasha Dam and a whole new highway will be required to build as an alternate which costs huge too. Also a vast area of the district headquarter of Chilas will be submerged into the water.
- A whole new setup of transmission lines and others are required with the installment of a power plant.
- Though the agreement over the requirement of the reservoir for water and generation of electricity with the construction of Diamir Bhasha Dam, the residents of Diamir are still discomforted and perplexed with the migration and relocation of their tribes and families. The settlement of the affected residents is the core issue now as the promised measures to allot them plots and build them model villages are still pending on the papers. Delayed in the settlement would impediment in the long run.
- The local tribes are opponents of each other and are flaring up their politics over the issue of the construction of Dam.
- The local natives are annoyed and discontented with the performance of the WAPDA. Despite the tall claims of proving alternate shelters, employment and the legitimate costs of the land, and allotment of a huge sum for the development of Chalas and Diamir is still no way around since a decade.
The approx. cost and the time frame for the required Diamir Bhasha Dam
According to an initial estimation proposed by the WAPDA officials, the initial proposed financial cost would be 12 bilion dollars.
Atleast 5 billion dollars is the minimum requirement to initiate the construction of Dam whereas another 7 to 10 billion dollars are required for the power generation.
WAPDA Chairman while speaking with the senior joournalist and anchorperson Kamran Khan in the program Dunya Kamran Khan Kay saath said that the proposed project upon availability of the minimum required funds can be initiated in a year and is expected to be completed in nine years or so.
Anew measures to start working on the inevitable project
In pursuance of the honorable Chief justice of Supreme court of Pakistan Saqib Nisar’s order, the Finance Division had opened an account under title “Diamer Bhasha and Mohmand Dam Fund-2018” for raising funds for the construction of these dams in the country.
A total of Rs1.93 billion is donated to the Chief Justice’s Fund for the construction of dams in last 3 months. According to data available till September 6, a total Rs1.93 billion has been donated. Only Rs. 20 million has been donated by overseas Pakistanis while the remaining Rs1.91 billion was raised locally.
The break down of the amount deposited from Pakistan is
Rs. 0.9 million is donated through debit and credit cards
Rs. 53 million is given through SMS
Rs. 32 million is transferred through IBFT.
Rs. 1.82 billion has been donated in the bank branches in specific accounts across the country.
The break down of the amount deposited by Overseas is
From United States Rs 5.7 million is donated
Pakistanis from UK donated Rs. 4.19 million
Pakistanis living in UAE have donated Rs. 4.13 million.
Pakistanis living in Canada have donated Rs1.5 million.
Rs 18,490 have been donated from India
Rs3,000 have been donated by Pakistanis from Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, the amount collected so far is far behind the amount required to at least initiate the project. Prime Minister Imran Khan in his latest statement urge the overseas Pakistanis to donate generously for construction of dams in Pakistan to avert the looming water crisis.
He was of the view that delaying such projects increases the cost so his government wants to build water reservoirs on time. The PM has announced the merger of CJP and PM s dam fund. He also asked overseas Pakistanis, especially those living in European countries and the United States to contribute at least one thousand dollars in the fund created by Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Also Read: PM Imran appeals overseas Pakistanis to contribute for dams construction
On raising funds for Diamer-Bhasha Dam, the opposition leader and president of PMLN said that there was no need to amass fund for the cause, rather investors should be encouraged to invest in the mega-project, also the spokesperson of the PMLN Maryam Aurangzeb stated that a huge amout has already been alocated by the former PMLN government for the project She said that in April 2018, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a rationalized cost of Rs 474,000 million.
On the other hand, a large number of national and international experts and analysts are not agreed with the latest measures taken by the present government for the construction of Dam. Most of them have the view point that these attempts are not sufficient to overcome the looming threat of economy and water and power scarcity. A robust plan of action must be revealed to all the stake holders along with the planning and arrangements of the construction, power generation plants installments and resettlement of the native communities and displaced residents.
It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan on multiple occassions have tried but could not get anything for such hefty aid except several failed attempts to take the international affiliations incuding US, China, World Bank and IMF on board in the obligatory task to build the Dam on urgent basis.
