Building dams for future

E-Paper | June 11, 2026

A terrible situation has developed on the status of new dams being planned for the past four decades without any tangible progress. The dams located in Azad Kashmir and northern areas like the Bhasha Dam, Bunji Dam and Akhori Dam for water storage and power generation are bound by an NOC from India, being located in a disputed area as per definition of India and as such do not qualify for any funding by the World Bank, IMF and ADB. This seals their fate destined for a moribund situation or at a snail’s pace progress.

On the other hand, the dams on our rivers on the Indian side have no such riders as NOC from Pakistan and the Indians go on building scores of dams at hectic speed.

The only mega hydroelectric dam that lies in Pakistan territory is Kalabagh Dam for which the World Bank can finance but due to lack of provincial consensus no progress has been made.

This is a terrible situation that is keeping our economy hostage to Indian designs and our provincial discord in building a dam that needs to be resolved soon to rescue us from a dismal future.

DR KHURAM SHAHZAD Attock

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Saurabh

Mar 13, 2013 05:07am

Well you need money to make Dams

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Agha Ata (USA)

Mar 13, 2013 05:11pm

If God had democracy in Heavens and had political parties as we have in Pakistan, I don't think He could have created the Universe. LOL

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mohammad shafique

Mar 13, 2013 12:59pm

it is easy to live in Attock on top of the river indus and express the desire to see more dams built but if you live at the tail end in the delta where not a drop of water has passed through for a decade (except when it floods) you will see an entirely different picture.

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Abdul Waheed

Mar 13, 2013 12:13pm

Our short sighted leaders play in the hands of those who do not want Pakistan to prosper. For them winning the election on the basis of provincialism is more important than the long term prosperity of the nation. All their thinking is self centered without understanding and paying any attention to the national issues. They are supposed to protect the rights of the masses but instead they protect their own political gains at the expense of long term good of the nation. The members of provincial assemblies that voted against the construction of the Kalabagh dam should be made answerable to the nation through fair trial. After all there should be some sanity in the decision making. Members of assemblies should not make decisions of public importance at their will without considering the merit and demerits of the projects of the national interest.

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Shahryar Shirazi

Mar 14, 2013 03:18am

State is responsible for the people in the delta and must have a plan to address this problem. However, your tone here is not nationalistic. It is because of this thinking that the country is in trouble

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