AT long last, the construction work on Diamer-Bhasha Dam has started which will, on completion, be the third biggest water reservoir of the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan, while initiating the work on the mega project in Chilas, castigated past governments and rulers for not doing much for addition of water reservoirs resulting into sluggish industrial growth.
The incumbent Government, indeed, deserves credit for removing obstacles in the way of building major hydel-power projects and reservoirs and starting actual work on them. It may be noted that from the then President General Musharraf Pervez to President Zardari and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – all performed ground breaking of Diamer Bhasha Dam but progress on ground was almost nil with the exception of movement on the front of acquisition of land and payment to the affected families. There were two main obstacles in the way of construction of large water reservoirs – political controversies and financial constraints but these could have been resolved much earlier provided there was genuine resolve and determination to do so. Kalabagh Dam has been politicized despite the fact that it was most feasible and could have been built at a fast pace but regrettably progress on other dams on which consensus exists also made little progress. As the country is facing increasing shortage of water, which would badly affect the agrarian economy of Pakistan, there was urgency to take measures to increase water storage capacity that was depleting fast due to silting of Tarbela and Mangla dams. Apart from water shortage, the country also faced bitter crisis of electricity which could have been mitigated if timely investment was made on construction of water reservoirs and hydel power projects as studies show the country has the potential to generate over fifty thousand megawatts of hydel power. There are great advantages for building Diamer-Bhasha Dam as it would provide the facility to store 6.4 million acre-feet of water and 4,500-megawatt, environment-friendly electricity will be produced. Over 16,000 people will be employed after construction begins on this dam and the reservoir is likely to reduce chances of flooding which plays havoc especially in monsoon. There are similar benefits of other proposed water reservoirs also and, therefore, work on all of them should be initiated without further delay.
