Case For Kalabagh Dam (KD)
Proponents of the
Kalabagh dam use a mix of economic and environmental reasons to support Kalabagh
Dam's construction. Some of their salient arguments are summarized below.
Economic
reasons to build Kalabagh Dam feature:
Hydroelectric power
is a renewable and environmentally friendly source of energy. Kalabagh Dam will
add over 3800 MW to the national grid, significantly reducing Pakistan's 5000
MW shortage.[i]
 |
| Rising Tide Lifts All Boats |
In other words,
Pakistan’s economy will enter a positive feedback loop. Economic growth will
“lift all boats higher,” in the Rawlsian sense, and peoples’ happiness will
increase as poverty rates fall and fewer people starve or die of preventable
diseases.[iii]
Their environmental reasons for building the dam include:
•
Fewer flash floods
in the middle and lower course of River Indus
•
Better water
regulation in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkwa
•
Conservation of the
world’s limited fresh water supplies as less river water will be “lost” to the
sea
•
Better watershed
management as more trees will be planted in the upper course to reduce
siltation in Kalabagh Dam[iv]
For
the pro-Kalabagh Dam school, the dam will be a good intervention for both – our
economy and environment. The rest of this page presents the case against the
dam.
Absolute Case Against Kalabagh Dam (KD)
The case against
Kalabagh Dam is premised on the damage, in absolute terms, that the
Kalabagh Dam will cause to humans and nonhuman nature. The claims presented
below are based on socio-economic, political and environmental grounds. Socio-economic reasons for not building the dam at Kalabagh:
•
Over 93,000 people
will be displaced from their homes
•
Local subsistence
economies of Kalabagh town will be destroyed
•
Over 182,000 acres
of agricultural land will be inundated
• Floods may damage the populous Nowshera Valley in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province. Although the valley is at a higher elevation than the
dam, environmental experts like Abrar Kazi think that the valley can
still face threats.
• Heavy siltation in the
dam's reservoir will counteract any gains from electricity production
•
Sindhi wetlands
such as the Keenjhar and Haleji Lakes will dry up, affecting the income of over
50,000 people.[v]
•
By preventing
flooding and siltation in riverine areas, Kalabagh Dam has the potential to
make the agrarian Indus Basin barren and unproductive.[vi]
 |
| The dry Indus River at Kotri Barrage, Sindh |
Having established
the harm Kalabagh Dam causes to Pakistani people and their subsistence
economies, the anti-Kalabagh Dam school explains the political and
environmental costs of building the dam.
Political reasons to oppose Kalabagh Dam:
Among political reasons,
critics dismiss the dam on the grounds that it creates subordination,
dependence and discrimination. Their principal arguments are:
I.
Subordination of
Non-dominant Ethnic Groups
Historically powerful Punjabis
from the Punjab province have dominated Sindhis, Balochis, and Pakhtuns living in
the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkwa. The nondominant
ethnic groups, particularly the worst affected Sindhis and Pakhtuns, blame
Punjab for stealing water in the current Indus River water distribution system and
do not expect Punjab to share water equally when Kalabagh Dam is built in
Punjab.[vii]
II. Economic dependence of Non-dominant
Ethnic Groups:
Pakistan’s economy is
primarily agrarian. Damages to Sindhi, Balochi and Pakhtun economies from less
water flow will reduce Pakistan’s revenues and counter the very gains the
pro-Kalabagh Dam school propagates.
Harm
to Women:
Storing water in the dam’s
reservoir at Kalabagh will reduce the volume of water in the river, adversely
affecting women responsible for collecting water in the lower Indus plain. As
women will walk longer distances on unsafe terrain to search for water, their
chances of encountering sexual assaults, suffering from poorer health, and
loosing time for extra income-generating pursuits will increase.
Save the Environment. Don’t Build Kalabagh Dam!
The
anti-Kalabagh school contends that the Kalabagh Dam will have devastating
consequences for the environment. Their most popular arguments include damage
to the Indus Delta and animal habitat.
When
explaining damage to the Indus Delta from less freshwater flow,
they mention:
•
Sea-Water Intrusion: Keti-Bandar – home to
28,000 people, 42 villages, and a thriving freshwater inundation based rice
producing region 10 years ago – has nearly drowned. Coastal communities can no
longer plant rice as freshwater supplies from River Indus have dwindled. An
estimated 100,000 people will loose their livelihood if Pakistan’s government
builds the dam.[ix]
And while exploring damage to animal habitat, they claim:
•
Endangered Indus dolphins and palla-macchi
(Tenulosa-Ilisha), a species of
migratory fish important to Sindhi culture, will become extinct[x]
Given the harms to the
interests of human and nonhuman life, this school opposes Kalabagh Dam’s
construction
[i] "Need for
Kalabagh Dam." The Nation
(January 19, 2012). http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/editorials/19-Jan-2012/need-for-kalabagh-dam.Accessed
on August 2, 2012; Bengali, Kaiser. (2009) “Water Management Constraints: Need
for a Paradigm Shift.” From Running on
Empty: Pakistan’s Water Crisis, Micheal Kugelman and Robert Hathaway eds. Woodrow
Wilson Center. Web: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/ASIA_090422_Running%20on%20Empty_web.pdf.
Accessed on August 2, 2012.
[ii] Taseer, Salman. (2011) “The Case for
Kalabagh Dam.” Newsweek Pakistan. Web: http://newsweekpakistan.com/features/405.
Accessed on August 2, 2012
[v] Forever
Indus Organization and World Wildlife Federation, “Exploring the Wealth of
Wetlands. Web. http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/factsheets/keenjhar4411.pdf. Accessed on August 2, 2012
[vi] Kazi, Abrar. Kalabagh Dam: An
Ecological Disaster. Hyderabad: Creative Communications. Web: http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/khyber007/kalab1.html&date=2009-10-26+01:21:31.
Accessed: July 21, 2012
[vii] Kazi, Abrar. Kalabagh Dam: An
Ecological Disaster. Hyderabad: Creative Communications. Web: http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/khyber007/kalab1.html&date=2009-10-26+01:21:31.
Accessed: July 21, 2012
[viii] Khan, Shaheen Rafi. (1999). “The Case
Against Kalabagh Dam.” Sustainable Policy
Development Institute: Islamabad. Web: http://www.sdpi.org/publications/files/W48-The%20Case%20Against%20Kalabagh%20Dam.pdf
[ix] Ilyas, Farha. (June 2012). “Keti Bunder
Suffering from Government Neglect.” Daily Dawn. Web: http://dawn.com/2012/06/19/keti-bunder-suffering-from-govt-neglect/.
Ilyas, Farha (June, 2008). “Keti
Bunder facing sea intrusion.” Daily Dawn. Web: http://archives.dawn.com/2008/06/19/local8.htm; World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan: http://www.wwfpak.org/ccap/ketibunder.php; Forever Indus Organization, Indus Delta: A
Vanishing Ecosystem. Web: http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/brochures/awm_indusdelta_fs_vanishing.pdf. Accessed on August 2, 2012
[x] Forever Indus Organization. Status of
Palla Fish in Sindh,” Web: http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/factsheets/fs_palla_fisheries.pdf.
Accessed August 2, 2012; World Wildlife Federation (WWF), “Indus River
Dolphin.” Web: http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/pakistan/indus/
[xi] Forever Indus Organization. Indus Delta: A Vanishing Ecosystem. Web: http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/brochures/awm_indusdelta_fs_vanishing.pdf. Accessed on August 2, 2012; Forever Indus
Organization and World Wildlife Federation, “Exploring the Wealth of Wetlands.
Web. http://foreverindus.org/pdf/awarness_material/factsheets/keenjhar4411.pdf. Accessed on August 2, 2012
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