ISLAMABAD: Former Member of National Assembly (MNA) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Humayun Saifullah Khan said Monday that anybody who opposes the construction of Kalabagh Dam is not a friend of Pakistan, and urged the government to take up the issue at the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to develop consensus among provinces in this connection.
Sharing his in-depth knowledge about the dam, Saifullah said that the only hurdle for the dam was the existence of mutual distrust among the federating units. He emphasised that early construction of the dam would prove beneficial to Pakistan.
He said it was the sole responsibility of the federal government to move fast and take all steps necessary to develop a consensus among the provinces in an effort to clear the atmosphere of long-standing mistrust.
Saifullah said that,” Out of 46,000 dams built in the world in the 20th century, Pakistan has constructed only 70, whereas, China has built 22,000 and India about 4,291 dams. Pakistan’s water profile has changed drastically from being a water abundant country to one experiencing water stress.”
During the period falling between 1990 to 2015, per capita water availability declined from 2,127 to 1,306 cubic metres per inhabitant, and would further decrease in the near future due to a rapidly multiplying population, as was evident from the results of the recently concluded population census.
Furthermore, the former MNA said that according to a study conducted by the World Bank, construction of Kalabagh Dam should have been completed by 1995 and Basha Dam by 2010, while adding that policy makers miserly failed to adhere to this schedule and instead politicised the construction of Kalabagh Dam which resulted in the country facing acute water shortages and energy crisis.
He said that Pakistan had failed to develop any major water storage infrastructure after Tarbela Dam. Consequently, water storage capacity had often receded to less than 30 days against the minimum requirement of 120 days, he added.
Talking about the objections made by two provinces against the construction of the said dam, Saifullah said that Kalabagh Dam became a cause of dispute, agitation and political conflicts in the 80s during the martial law government of General Ziaul Haq. Prior to that there was no dispute on the construction of the dam, he added.
Moreover, the former MNA said that the feasibility report for Kalabagh Dam was prepared and finalised in 1975 by the government of Zulifqar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto would not have supported and pursued this project if it had been as harmful for Sindh as was being portrayed by Sindhi leaders now, he added.
Rejecting the assumptions that parts of KP would be flooded after the construction of the dam, Saifullah said that it did not matter whether the dam was constructed or not, since the cause of flooding in Peshawar Valley, particularly Nowshera, was different and should be addressed through other means.