Govt Seeks Foreign Investment For Kalabagh Dam

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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why pakistan not solve people basic needs? is furst job of govrment I say. look at this and i quote from http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/books/review/27FINKBET.html

On the other hand, Pakistan is nearly rainless. In 1951, it had 34 million people; now it has 152 million; in 25 years it will have 260 million. Pakistan’s rivers carry plentiful water from the Himalayas, but only in springtime. And the rivers flow through India, which also needs water and dams them. In 1960, Pakistan and India, guided by threats and promises from the World Bank, signed a treaty to share the water, and Pakistan began a system of dams and canals that got water to the places that needed it. But the canals were not maintained, so they leaked and silted up. Also, canals are heavy; they weigh down the ground and raise the groundwater to the surface, where its natural salts deposit out. So the reclaimed farmland became waterlogged and salty. ‘‘Pakistan,’’ Ward says, ‘‘is in a state of near desperation over water.’’

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Imdad Ali: *

Everyone in NWFP, Balochistan and Sindh opposes the Kalabagh dam, no matter if they are members of MQM, PML, or MMA. Or even if they are not members of any party, the average peopl are against the Dam becuase they know it will stop their water.

[/QUOTE]

Prove it, show us the facts, not just the opinions of a few nationalist and separatist diehards who were wiped out in these elections.

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what you mean? i heard and quietly sure saw in cnn also that lot of molvi extremism people won in alged elections! no?

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I think it wont be in the intergrity of the country to build Kala Bagh Dam, when there is no consensus among the provinces, it will only cement the view of the smaller provinces that Punjab=Pakistan. Secondly, these days even in the world small dams are being preferred over larger dams as the latger ones have been proved more detrimental for the envirnoment.

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Thanks Zaavia, as usual you are a voice of sanity, decency and intelligence in these arguments:

http://www.dawn.com/2000/09/03/nat9.htm

**The general secretary Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (F), Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, who presided over the seminar, said that if the country was again disintegrated then the present rulers would be held responsible and added that rulers will have to give rights to the four provinces if they wanted to see the country united. **

http://www.dawn.com/2000/09/03/nat9.htm

**A spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party on Saturday welcomed the reports that the government had shelved its plan to build the Kalabagh dam and had instead decided to explore other potential locations, including the site at Bhasha, for the construction of new dams. **

http://www.dawn.com/2000/08/20/nat4.htm

NGOs call for shelving Kalabagh dam plan

**Three provincial assemblies and the Senate’s Standing Committee on Water and Power had rejected the Kalabagh dam, then why is the military regime pursuing a project rejected by the elected bodies of the majority of the federating units," they said. Referring to the federal government’s assurances that constitutional guarantees would be provided to smaller provinces on water distribution and effective monitoring would be done, they asked “which constitution is the government talking about?”

They said: “When the Constitution could not guarantee its own safety, what guarantees can it provide to others.” “First time, the Kalabagh dam proposal was mooted over 125 years ago, but the British rulers rejected it after they came to know that it would have devastating effects on Sindh and the coastal eco-system,” the speakers said.
**

http://www.dawn.com/2001/08/08/local16.htm

**PESHAWAR: Parties once again reject Kalabagh dam plan **

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I read the first two posts in this thread, and it is not clear whether merely the topic is misleading or are we wasting a lot of time, discussing something which is a no-show.

Kalabagh dam was considered the most feasible and necessary by all the technical studies done with millions of dollars. But due to local objections, the project was shelved and by now is dead. So, whats the new fuss about?

Instead of one Kalabagh dam, they decided to make a number of small dams, and the biggest of the lot is probably Ghazi Barotha. The other plan is to increase the height of Mangla Dam to enhance its useful life.