This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. Its neutrality is disputed. Tagged since March 2008. Its factual accuracy is disputed. Tagged since March 2008. Kalabagh Dam (proposed) Official name Kalabagh Dam (proposed) Locale Indus,  Pakistan Owner(s) GoP Dam and spillways Type of dam Earthfill dam Height 79 m (259 ft) Length 3,350 m (10,991 ft) Impounds Indus River Spillway capacity 30,000 m/s (98,000 ft/s) Reservoir Capacity 9.7 km3 (7,900,000 acre·ft) Catchment area 110,500 sq mi (286,000 km2) Power station Installed capacity 3,600 MW (proposed) The Kalabagh dam was a proposed hydroelectric dam planned to be built on the Indus River by the Government of Pakistan. The proposed site for the dam was situated at Kalabagh in Mianwali District of the Punjab province, bordering the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The dam project was controversial since its inception. In December 2005, General Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, announced that he would build the dam in the larger interest of Pakistan. On May 26, 2008, Federal Minister for Water and Power of Pakistan, Raja Pervez Ashraf, said that the "Kalabagh Dam would not be constructed" and the project has been cancelled.1 He said due to the "opposition from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and other stakeholders, the project was no longer feasible".2 However, after the worst flood (2010) in Pakistan, the prime minister of Pakistan, Yousaf Raza Gilani, stated that the devastation of flood would be less if Kalabagh dam was built.3 Contents 1 Controversy 2 Punjab's viewpoint 3 Sindh's viewpoint 4 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's viewpoint 5 Balochistan's viewpoint 6 Analysis 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Controversy

The proposed construction of the Kalabagh Dam triggered a bitter controversy among the three provinces of Pakistan, namely Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Punjab has been the only province in favor of the dam. The other three provinces have expressed dissatisfaction: their provincial assemblies passed unanimous resolutions rejecting the proposed dam. Hence, the project was still under consideration only. According to some small controversial groups, the tailender has a legal and natural right on river. Often Pakistani politicians try to use India as an excuse to explain the mismanagement of water resources. According to WAPDA with increased population, Pakistan is fast heading towards a situation of water shortage. Per capita surface water availability was 5260 cubic meters in 1951, when population was 34 million, which has been reduced to 1038 cubic meters in 2010 when the estimated population is 172 million. The minimum water requirement to being a "water short country" is 1,000 cubic meters. They claim no dam or reservoir can be built without permission and endorsement of the tailender, i.e., Arabian Sea.citation needed In the case where the tailender is not using water, i.e., building a water reservoir, a reservoir can be made upstream. Impact assessments of the proposed dam have shown that while it will provide storage and electricity, the dam will also have adverse impacts on the environment, as can be expected from any large dam.citation needed It will also displace a large number of people.citation needed While proponents point to the benefits, the adverse factors have been played up by the opponents of the dam. As a result, the dam has been stalled by claims and counterclaims since 1984. Punjab's viewpoint

Punjab believe Kalabagh Dam is necessary to fulfill national need for more water to keep up with the growing population and industrial demands on agriculture. A dam at Kalabagh would also supply cheap hydro-electric power to the whole country. The annual outflow of water into the Arabian Sea is considered a "waste" in Punjab, which feels that water can be used to irrigate infertile lands in southern areas of Punjab and northern areas of Sindh. Punjab wants not just Kalabagh, but also two more large dams on the Indus, at Bhasha and Skardu/Katzarah in northern areas of Pakistan. It feels that the Kalabagh site is the most favourable, compared to the other two, as unlike other two projects Kalabagh project include construction of several irrigation canals to fulfill the growing demand for agriculture in Pakistan, and that it should be built first. Bahalwalpur and Bahawalnagar will get most of the water stored in Kalabagh Dam. On the other hand, Punjab has been severely hit by Kalabagh Dam being not built. In the early 1960s, Pakistan had agreed to a deal with India over the royalty of rivers. That had given royalty of two rivers Satlej and Biyas to India. Since then, the river Ravi, Satlej and Biyas are only used as flood release rivers by India. Pakistan government was allowed and funded to build this dam only because they had agreed such deal with India. Now Pakistan hasn't built the dam and has also barren-ed a large area of Punjab province by taking out three rivers.

Punjab's view is that a dam of above 3GW production can finish all the energy crisis of Pakistan.citation needed Overall, it will help Pakistan to grow further as electricity produced by water is cheapest compared to all other resources. Punjab has also agreed not to claim any royalty on generation of resources from Kalabagh damcitation needed. Moreover recently the people of Punjab have expressed their feeling that if Kalabagh Dam is environmentally hazardous so are Tharcoal and Kohat oil and gas projects. Sindh's viewpoint Sindh is the lower riparian and strongest opponent of KBD. But its case mainly against Punjab is more on a conceptual basis of what Sindh thought to be "theft of water by Punjab" rather than locating an actual incident of theft. Sindh supports its argument by stating that by virtue of its name and history of water rights of the province, Indus River belongs exclusively to Sindh. Therefore, claiming the construction of dams, Tarbela and Mangla and now KBD actions of theft of water at the irrigation cost of Sindh. Sindh presents many objections against the proposed dam: Sindh objects that their share of the Indus water will be curtailed as water from the Kalabagh will go to irrigate farmlands in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, at their cost. Sindhis hold that their rights as the lower riparian have precedence according to international water distribution law. The coastal regions of Sindh require a constant flow of water down the Indus into the Arabian Sea so that the flowing water can keep the seawater from intruding inland. Such seawater intrusion would literally turn vast areas of Sindh's coast into an arid saline desert, and destroy Sindh's coastal mangroves. With the construction of dams, such as Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam across the Indus, Sindhis have seen the once-mighty Indus turned into a shadow of its former glory downstream of the Kotri Barrage up to Hyderabad. They fear that there simply is not enough water for another large dam across the Indus, let alone three. Sindh believe there is no water in the system, so that big dams could be built. Sindh also state that biggers dams cannot be built upon the rain water. Sind says "there has been no water discharge downstream of Kotri Barrage for some years, but if there was no rain" The Kalabagh site is located in a highly seismic zone near an active fault, and the underlying rocks are likely to contain numerous fractures, causing the reservoir water to seep through the catacomb of fractures and discharge at the lowest point around the reservoir and the Indus river.4 Damming the Indus has already caused a number of environmental problems that have not yet addressed. Silt deposited in the proposed Kalabagh dam would further curtail the water storage capacity of Manchar Lake and other lakes and of wetlands like Haleji Lake. President Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other leaders, have promised "iron-clad constitutional guarantees" to ensure that Sindh gets its fair share of water. However, these assurances mean little to most Sindhis, who claim that even the earlier 1991 Indus Water-Sharing Accord, which is a document already guaranteed by the constitutional body, the Council of Common Interests, has been violated, and that Punjab has "stolen" their water without any concrete evidence.

The objection to Kalabagh in Sindh is widespread. Even political parties of Sindh that are in the central cabinet and are supported by General Musharraf, such as the Muttahida Quami Movement, have strongly denounced the dam. Opposition towards Kalabagh Dam is such that PML N's Sindh Chapter also were in unison with the opponents of the Dam and as a result even PML N's leader Mr Nawaz Sharif, who as the Prime Minister of Pakistan had stated in 1998 that he proposes to build the dam, retracted from his stance and declared that Sindh's view point ought to be respected and no project, however essential, be carried out that weakened Pakistan's Federation. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's viewpoint The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has two main objections to the dam: Punjab has low credibility and doubtful sincerity when it comes to fulfilling promises. It does not stop even if it has to break the constitutional guarantees (at least the current government of Punjab, which is of the Pakistan Muslim League (N)). Stopping of wheat supply at check posts for investigation is one such example (this is not allowed in the Constitution of Pakistan).citation needed. ANP claims that the running of Cheshma-Jhelum link canal and over drawing of water from Tarbela is a common feature. The entire system and canal of Ghazi- Barotha hydro electric project runs in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa, however the electricity generating turbines were installed just 500 meters inside Punjab so that the royalty is denied to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.citation needed. While the reservoir will be in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the dam's electricity-generating turbines will be just across the provincial border in Punjab. Therefore, Punjab would get royalties from the central government in Islamabad for generating electricity.citation needed. Although, Punjab has also agreed not to claim any royalty on generation of resources from Kalabagh dam. Concerns that large areas of Nowshera District would be submerged by the dam and even wider areas would suffer from water-logging and salinity as has occurred with the Tarbela Dam. As the water will be stored in Kalabagh dam as proposed, that will give water level rise to the city that is about 200 km away from the proposed location.citation needed. However, engineers having expertise on dam construction repeatedly deny the opinion that Nowshera city could be submerged by the dam lake. Balochistan's viewpoint

Balochistan is not directly affected by the dam as such. Rather, most nationalist Baloch Sardars claim the dam an instance of Punjab lording it over the smaller provinces. They have however, not included the dam in any of their statements after its cancellation.citation needed Analysis Most independent analysts believe that the foremost problem with the proposed dam at Kalabagh is one of a "trust deficit between the Punjab on one side and the other three provinces on the other". Ayaz Amir, believes this is due to the frequent coups staged by the Pakistan Army (which is overwhelmingly Punjabi and Pathan in its composition), as well as the Army's extra-constitutional intervention and influence in public sector and civil institutions of the country in general and Sindh in particular (especially in Karachi). This is also due to ethno-nationalists that promote anti-Punjabi sentiments amongst the people. All Pakistanis agree that Pakistan faces a severe water shortage, and that some form of water management must be implemented soon. Manywho? point out that even if work on Kalabagh were to start tomorrow, it would still take at least eight years to complete and commission such a large dam. In the meantime, the water situation would continue to worsen. Smaller dams, barrages, and canals must be built before that, and water conservation techniques introduced. The WAPDA for years repeatedly changed its statistics on the dam, to the point where no-one in Pakistan now believes any of its figures.citation needed Government of Pakistan formed a technical committee, headed by A. N. G. Abbasi, to study the technical merits of the Kalabagh dam vis-a-vis the other two. The four-volume technical report concluded that Bhasha or Katzarah dam should be built before Kalabagh, further complicating matters. The report also stated that Kalabagh and Bhasha Dams could be considered feasible.

The abrupt way in which President Pervez Musharraf announced the decision to build the dam, overruling the objections of the smaller provinces, had polarised public opinion. On 26 May 2008, Federal Minister for Water and Power of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Kalabagh Dam will not be constructed. He said due to opposition from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and other stakeholders, the project is no longer feasible. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced that the fate of the project would be decided by a plebiscite. The decision came after Pakistan faced extreme power crisis and acute water shortages. The government is currently finding alternative locations for the dam.2 See also List of power stations in Pakistan References ^ http://rupeenews.com/2008/05/27/kalabagh-dam-dropped-without-discussion-in-parliament/ ^ a b [1] Kalabagh Dam shelved forever ^ http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\10\story_10-8-2010_pg1_3 ^ http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/19/ed.htm#3 [2] External links [3] [4] Kalabagh Dam - Online book in Sindhi language KalaBagh Dam by Friends of Indus The KalaBagh Controversy by Dr. Shaheen Rafi Khan Engineer Iftikhar Ahmad's analytical articles on KalaBagh Kalabagh Dam: An ecological Disaster by Abrar Kazi [5] Proposed KalaBagh Dam KalaBagh Dam news archive Why Sindh Opposes Kalabagh Dam? Official Site: Govt of Pakistan Official Site: WAPDA [6]