ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Construction of Kalabagh dam would necessitate immediate follow-up building of $1.1149 billion (Rs70 billion) Munda dam to save Nowshera from flooding. Therefore, work on Munda dam should be started before Bhasha dam.

This is crux of an in-camera presentation Secretary Water and Power Ashfaq Mahmood and Chairman Wapda Tariq Hameed made to senators, a ruling party senator divulged to Dawn.

Wapda claims that Kalabagh dam without left and right bank canals would have no utility in terms of cost-benefit ratio. This neutralizes Sindh’s conditional acceptance of a canal-less carry over Kalabagh dam.

According to the presentation, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the Water and Power Ministry and Wapda are of opinion that construction of Kalabagh dam should be taken up first, then that of Munda dam, then Bhasha dam and lastly Akhori dam.

Skardu-Katzarah dam, which has been termed by the technical committee on water resources as the best option for the country, is not a part of the government’s ten-year dam construction schedule. There is a big difference between estimates of Wapda and the TCWR in respect of availability of water in Skardu-Katzarah dam. The TCWR had put this figure at 35 million acre feet as compared to Wapda’s estimates of 27MAF.

The senators were told that estimated cost of Bhasha dam had gone up to $6.5 billion while that of Kalabagh dam stood at $6.1 billion. Another dam of seven million acre water storage capacity at Akhori in Punjab would cost another $4.4 billion and its construction should be taken up after Bhasha dam.

According to Wapda and the Water and Power Ministry schedule, construction of Kalabagh dam should start in 2006, of Bhasha dam in 2009 and then that of Akhori dam in 2015. Construction of Munda dam should be complete before Kalabagh dam so as to save Nowhsera from floods.

However, Bhasha dam has a clear edge over Kalabagh dam in terms of land to be submerged in its lake. Kalabagh dam would encompass a total of 110,200 acres of land while Bhasha dam would be spread over only 32,000 acres. Akhori dam is estimated to use 59,200 acres and even Skardu-Katzarah dam is expected to use 90,000 acres of land— much less than 110,200 acres of Kalabagh dam.

Again In terms of displacement of people, Bhasha dame has a big advantage over Kalabagh dam. Kalabagh dam would displace 120,000 people compared to 24,000 people to be displaced by Bhasha dam and 49,300 people by Akhori dam.

Skardu-Katzarah is expected to displace the highest number, 160,000 people, but its capacity would be more than the total capacity of all other dams. Its design-life is estimated at 1,000 years compared to less than 100 years each of every other proposed dam.

Regarding the NWFP’s apprehension that Kalabagh dam would flood Nowshera and Peshawar valley in case of unprecedented floods, the presentation said: “Munda dam on Swat river shall alleviate Nowshera flooding and back water of Kalabagh full reservoir only goes up to Akora Khattak”. It also says that installation of 4,800 tube wells in Sindh would address Sindh’s apprehension that its lands would go out of production due to control over river because it would affect only 7,000 acres of mangrove forest.

Wapda shows two different figures of 0.67 MAF and 0.76 MAF as estimated live-storage capacity of Munda dam and puts its power generation capacity at 740-mw.

According to a comparison, Kalabagh dam will have a water availability of 90 MAF and live-storage of 6.1 MAF. It will have power generation capacity of 3,600-MW and would have no logistic problem.

Bhasha dam would have water availability of 50 MAF and live-storage of 7.34 MAF and would produce 4,500-mw of electricity. Akhori dam is estimated to have 14 MAF of water availability, although its live-storage capacity would be 7 MAF. It would generate jsut 600-mw of electricity. Kalabagh dam would have no problem of power dispersal while power generated at Bhasha dame would be very difficult to disperse.

Wapda says seismic risk in Kalabagh and Akhori area is less than in Bhasha and Skardu-Katzarah areas.

Out of displacement of total 120,000 people, Kalabagh dam would force 78,000 people to move away in the Punjab and 42,000 people in the NWFP. It will affect 21,600 acres of barani land in the Punjab and 2,900 acres in the NWFP. Similarly, it will affect 2,900 acres of irrigated land in thePunjab and only 100 acres in the NWFP. In a nutshell, Kalabagh dam would affect 24,500 acres in the Punjab and 3,000 acres in the NWFP, bringing total of affected land to 27,500 acres.

Bhasha dam construction would require upgradation of 323-Km of Havelian-to-dam site road and relocation of 140-km of Sazin to Raikot bridge.