Time to look beyond Bhasha

As much as the US keeps on making Pakistanis believe that it is serious in helping its front-line ally in resolving the pressing energy crisis, its actions suggest otherwise.
The latest ditch has reportedly come on the hydroelectricity generation front where the US has flatly rejected Pakistans plea of financing the multi-billion dollar Bhasha dam.
The reasons may be different but Americas disapproval of Bhasha dam will most likely result in non-materialisation of the project. Americas stance on Bhasha dam reminds one of the fate that the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is likely to meet; as the US is unlikely to back these projects due to political reasons.
The American think-tanks have been running an anti-Bhasha dam campaign claiming the project to be of no use to Pakistan as it will displace a lot of people from the area and will invite geographic calamities.
But their focal point seems to be the location of the dam reservoir which happens to be in Azad Kashmir, an area which the Americans believe to be a disputed territory. Surely, they would never let their Indian friends down by financing a dam for Pakistan in Azad Kashmir.
Likewise, financing is also a common hindrance between the two projects, as the donor agencies would never dole out billions of dollars without Americas consent.
There is albeit, one dissimilarity between the two. Unlike the IP gas deal, which is vital and somewhat imperative for Pakistans energy security, Bhasha dam isn necessarily the best suited idea for Pakistan, given the technical issues.
"One reason why the idea of Bhasha dam should be scrapped is that it is located in an arid zone where there is little or no rainfall even in the rainy season. If they persist with it, by the time Bhasha dam is built, there will be no water left in the Indus River and the Tarbela dam", said Professor Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistans only known glaciologist.
And Pakistan can certainly ill-afford to lose Tarbela dam for a dam which is less feasible and might not yield the desired results. The once-mighty glaciers are melting gradually, for which Bhasha dam might prove ten years too late as it is expected to take 15 years to be built, according to experts.
Whats worse is that the highest water authority, Wapda, works on estimates and not concrete factual data, as the experts claim that it does not have any documented data on glaciers, which is why they fail to predict the potential or any dangerous natural calamity that might be lingering.
"Pakistan should instead build small and medium size dams based on the Scandinavian model and then add it to the national grid. It will be a lot easier, will take lesser time and financing will also be relatively easy", suggests Iqbal.
But just like the government portrays its commitment on the IP deal despite knowing it is least likely to happen, it also seems over-committed on Bhasha dam despite the obstacles.
This attitude prevents the government to look for alternative options. The fact that the government considers Basha dam as the only option is indeed fatal for Pakistans energy sector as it would not let them focus on building the small and medium dams - which are the need of the hour.