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After a delay of about a decade the the 272 meter high, the largest Roller Compacted Concrete Dam in the world  is going to be built in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. The dam will have the multiple purpose of creating electricity, conserving water,  supporting agriculture, creating commerce, increasing tourism, managing floods, as well as well as generating employment.  Several large multinational conglomerates are bidding for the project. From the looks of it the Chinese will have a good shot at it.

The Kalabagh Dam dropped without discussion in parliament

According the Indus Water treaty, Bharat had access to Sutlej Beas and Ravi and Pakistan was given Indus Chenab and Jhelum. However Bharat has violated the treaty by building dams, and other structures on the Pakistani rivers. By building illegal dams on Pakistan rivers, Bharat wants to control Pakistani waters. On several occasions in the past few years, Bharat has stopped the flow of waters to Pakistan. It has also flooded dozens of Pakistani villages by releasing waters without warning. Three Georges Dam Corporation of China among bidders for Basha Dam

Both Mangla and Tarbelacwere built during the brilliant decade of development–the golden years of Pakistani development. He also created the Small Dams Corporation and negotiated the take over Gwader from the Sultanate of Oman. Building Mangla and Tarbela provided huge employment to a large section of the population and created construction and architectural skills which helped in the construction of small dams like Rawal, Warsak and many hundreds of others. It also produced abundant hydro electricity which allowed Pakistan to electrify thousands of villages across the land of the Indus. Dams were built in Azad Kashmir, Sarhad, Sindh, and Balauchistan. Punjab built something like 32 small dams which helped it water management and fighting water logging and salinity.

Mangla and Tarbela dam

The Ecnec will also take up upgrading of the Karakorum Highway for Bhasha Dam that will cost Rs 12.058 billion in accordance with the revised estimates. The federal government has allocated Rs 100 million for this project during the ongoing fiscal year 2008-09.

The upgrading of the Karakorum Highway will be completed in three years, from 2008 to 2011. With the help of this project, 258-km-long section from 6.1m to 2 lane 7.3m width, 2m shoulders, including 49 bridges 700 culverts and 57 causeways, will be constructed.

This project is aimed at facilitating transportation of plant, machinery, heavy equipment like turbine runner of 5.5m dia for construction of Bhasha Dam and it will also increase tourism and trade with China. By Mehtab Haider. The Dawn

The last big dam built in Pakistan was Tarbela built jointly by the Italians and a conglomerate of other countries. Previous to that the Mangla Dam was built by the Americans. At the time, the US had a lot of experience in building dams. Since Tarbela, China has built the Three Gorges dam, the largest dam complex on the planet, and probably equivalent to the 8th wonder of the world. Pakistan is planning to construct six humongous dams and the hope is that after the completion of the Diamer Bhasha dam enough Civil Engineers will be available to construction the other five dams indigenously.

The Kalabagh Dam location map of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam would be started this year and a sum of Rs. 8000 million has been allocated in the recently announced federal budget, Federal Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf said Thursday.

The Minister said the construction of this dam would ensure green revolution in the country by producing power generation 4500 MW as well as water storage 6.4 MAF which would contribute for meeting demand of electricity and water for irrigation of thousands of acre land of the country per annum.

Regarding beginning of the construction, the Minister said that the construction of the Dam would begin by the end of the this year may be September or October according to the scheduled finalized for the project. The Wapda authorities have already been directed to follow the schedule to ensure given time frame for the completion of the mega project, the Minister said and added that Wapda is working to complete the resettlement plan for the affectees of the Dam site belonging to Northern Areas and NWFP.

The plan to continue to build new dams in Pakistan bodes well for the agriculture of the country and the region. Many countries of the world are investing in food security. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have been buying land in Pakistan, Sudan and even Somalia. the purpose of these huge farms is to ensure a constant supply of food to the countries. The Gulf purchases $200 Billion worth of food items. Pakistan is poised to take advantage of this huge market.

The original “Green Revolution” is dead. A new one needs to be resurrected all across Asia. China has been at the vanguard of this movement. A seminal reason behind the dispute over Kashmir is water. Kashmir is the origin point for many rivers and tributaries of the Indus River basin. They include Jhelum and Chenab which primarily flow into Pakistan while other branches – the Ravi, Beas and the Sutlej irrigate northern India. Pakistan has been apprehensive that in a dire need India under whose portion of Kashmir lies the origins and passage of the said rivers, would use its strategic advantage and withhold the flow and thus choke the agrarian economy of Pakistan. The Boundary Award of 1947 meant that the headworks of the chief irrigation systems of Pakistan were left located in Indian Territory.

After the construction of these dams and irrigation canals, cropping intensity and crop yield have increased. Due to availability of irrigation water there has been a shift of cropping pattern from wheat and forage crops to vegetable crops. Farmers are earning up to $2433 per ha per year. An analysis of inflow–outflow of the dams shows that, if properly managed, the storage is sufficient to irrigate all the crop lands within the command area. The depth to the water table has also decreased since the dams were constructed. The water table varies from 6 to 15 m in the irrigated areas served by the Khasala dam as compared to 7–39 m before the dam was constructed. The water table depths for the areas served by the Jawa dam ranged from 7 to 39 m before the dam was constructed to 9–25 m after construction. The shallower water table has made the groundwater accessible and as a result the number of wells has increased. This has reduced drudgery on the local inhabitants particularly for women who had to fetch water from far away for their domestic uses…M. Ashraf, a, , M.A. Kahlowna and A. Ashfaqa. Impact of small dams on agriculture and groundwater development: A case study from Pakistan. aPakistan Council of Research in Water Resources, Khyaban-e-Johar Road H-8/1, Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Mangla Dam was built by the Americans. At the time Americans were in Mangla and also in Badabare Air Force base near Peshawar. After President Ayub Khan wanted Americans as “Friends Not Masters”, he allowed an open bidding process for the next dam. Tarbela was built by a joint Italian conglomeration. Successive governments did not continue the marvelous water policy of President Ayub Khan. The next dams, Basha, Kalabgh and others did not materialize. General Zia Ul Haq canceled the dams, abolished the Small Dams Corporation and canceled the Indus Highway that would have opened up much of Baluchistan to travel, traffic and development. The Benazir and Nawaz Sharif governments remained mired in inter-provincial rivalry which prevented the dam building. Benazir to her  opened up the energy sector to oil burning expensive power plants. There was a time during her tenure when Pakistan was thinking of exporting to surplus electricity to other countries. The massive electrification campaign during the tenure of President Musharraf did not keep pace with the supply of electricity. The GNP doubled, and the use of electricity went up dramatically. A feasibility study was completed on Basha and Kalabagh by the Chinese companies. President Musharraf started the process  did not start the construction.

Indus water Treaty

Pervez Ashraf said that the generation of 4,500 MW inexpensive hydel power from Diamer-Bhasha dam would reduce the dependence on thermal power resulting saving of huge foreign exchange and make available 6.4 MAF of water for irrigation. He said that the project would also create massive infrastructure and job opportunities leading to the overall socio- economic uplift of the area.

Responding to a question about the land acquisition and resettlement of the dam site affectees, the Minister said that the ECNEC had already approved the project for land acquisition and resettlement of the dam at a cost of about Rs. 60 billion.

The Diamer-Bhasha Dam is being build at Indus River near Chilas area of Northern Areas having some portion lies in the area of District Kohistan of NWFP. The construction on the project will begin in September this year and it will be completed with in a period of seven year. Significantly, Diamer Bhasha Dam Project will be the highest Roller Compacted Concrete Dam in the world with height of 272 meters. Pakistan Times. Diamer-Bhasha dam to bring green revolution, ’Pakistan Times’ Metro Desk

All kudos to the Zardari government for continuing the process on the Diamer Bhasha dam. Pakistan needs dozens of large dams and hundreds of small dams. During the great depression, the US government created job corp programs where youth were given employment to build huge infrastructure projects across the country. Many dams including the Hoover Dam were built at the time. The Tennessee Valley Authority was instrumental in the development of the Southwest because not only did it provide employment and energy, it opened up vast new areas for agriculture and industrialization.

The Water wars have already begun and Bharat has already exploded the Aqua Bomb. The Indus Waters Treaty, signed on September 19, 1960, sets up a legal regime determining the rights and obligations of both parties concerning the use of the waters of the Indus basin. The World Bank is a signatory to the treaty for certain specified purposes. It is not a guarantor of the treaty. Under the treaty, use of the rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ravi, termed the eastern rivers, has been allocated to India while Pakistan is entitled to unrestricted use of the rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India can only interfere with the flow of the western rivers for the following uses: domestic use, non-consumptive use, (navigation, flood control, fishing and wildlife), agricultural use and generation of hydroelectric power and storage works.