Introduction

Kalabagh Dam is a proposed hydroelectric Dam on the Indus River  at Kalabagh in the Mianwali District of Punjab Province in Pakistan with electricity generation capacity  3,600 megawatts (4,800,000 hp)  since 1987, but plan of construction of this dam was chalked out in 1954 but due to non availability of funds and non settlement of distribution of its water between four provinces its construction is delayed. Many consultants worked on the feasibility studies of this dam and have provided much information on the merits and demerits of Kalabagh Dam. In December 2004, then President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf announced that he would build the dam to serve the larger interest of Pakistan. However, on 26 May 2008, the Federal Minister for Water and Power of Pakistan, Raja Pervez Ashaf said that the “Kalabagh Dam would not be constructed” and that the project had been cancelled due to “opposition from KPK , Sindh But still the dam is not constructed because of political reasons.

1. One main objection by KPK province is that due to construction of Kalabagh dam, Nowshehra region will get flooded.
2. Another main objection by Sindh province is that Kalabagh dam will convert Sindh into desert because of the blockage of water and KBD will increase the sea intrusion problem.

Facts about Kala bagh Dam by Experts

Former chief technical advisor to the United Nations and World Bank, Bashir Malik said, “Sindh and Pakhtunkhwah would become drought areas in the years to come if Kalabagh Dam was not built. At the same time, former KP Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk has stated that the “Kalabagh Dam would be helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as it would irrigate 800,000 acres of cultivable land that is located 100–150 feet above the level of River Indus. The Kalabagh Dam would provide 6.5 million acre feet of water to cultivate seven million acres of currently barren land in addition to the 3,600 megawatts (4,800,000 hp) of electricity it would provide. In response to the push towards side-lining Kalabagh altogether in favour of the rival Basha Dam project,

Advantages of Kalabagh Dam

If Pakistan dumps as much as about 21 billion dollars worth of water into the Arabian Sea every year because we do not have sufficient water conservation system .According to the experts, the problem is that our current dam storage facility can only store a total of 30 days of water.

And if Pakistan quite shockingly has lost 1570 billion cubic meters (BCM) of water in last 38 years which alone could have contributed 636 billion dollars to its agriculture Gross Domestic Product (GDP) along. This huge quantum of water has gone as waste the Arabia Sea and had it been stored in dams, it would have generated 430,000 megawatts of electricity .