The planned Diamer-Bhasha Dam is on the River Indus in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan; it is a gravity dam. Its strategic importance and economic value were identified in early 1960s and earmarked as a potential asset for Pakistan. Its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on 18 October 2011 after it remained dormant for several decades.
One of the reasons behind the decision was to move out of highly politicalized Kalabagh dam and offer Bhasha to the public as an alternative.
As of August 2012, the project faced several setbacks due to major sponsors backing out from financing the project. The World Bank and Asian Development Bank both refused to finance the project as, according to them, its location is in a disputed territory and asked Pakistan to get an NOC from the neighbouring India.
China also showed reluctance and in November 2017, Pakistan dropped its bid to have the dam financed under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) framework.
In an encouraging development, Pakistan last Monday approved the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam at an initial estimated cost of Rs 625 billion. Interestingly, it will mostly be funded through local resources after international financial institutions and even China showed reluctance to help the country build the mega reservoir.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) cleared the project for the final approval of Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC), according to the Ministry of Planning and Development. Headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Sartaj Aziz, the CDWP also cleared the Rs 303 billion Mohmand Dam Hydropower Project for the final approval of the ECNEC.
With a cumulative cost of Rs 928 billion, these projects will help the country address two serious issues - water shortage and power generation. The Mohmand Dam project will have a power generation capacity of 800 megawatts.
Diamer-Bhasha Dam project is being built only as a water reservoir for now, as the government initially excluded the power generation component, which would cost another Rs 744 billion. The dam has the capacity to generate 4500MW of electricity.
Upon completion, Diamer-Bhasha Dam would be the highest roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam in the world. It would store an extra 8,500,000 acres feet (10.5 km3) of water for Pakistan that would be used for irrigation and drinking purposes. It would also extend the life of Tarbela Dam located downstream by 35 years; and above all control flood damages by the River Indus downstream during high floods.
The dam will have a height of 272 meters spillway with 14 gates - 11.5m x 16.24m each. The gross capacity of the reservoir will be 8,100,000 acres feet (10.0 km3), with a live storage of 6,400,000 acres feet (7.9 km3).
To cater for one of the biggest challenges an amount of Rs 27.824 billion is required for the acquisition of land and resettlement of people to be affected in the wake of the construction of the dam. Under the proposed project, Rs 10.76 billion will be spent on the acquisition of agriculture-barren land, tree and nurseries and Rs 1.638 billion to be utilized for properties and infrastructure, Rs 8.8 billion for establishment of nine model villages, Rs 62.119 million on pay and allowances for administrative arrangements, and Rs 17.7 million on contingent administrative expenses.
Pakistan's most effective solution to its water and power crises is embedded in the abundance of water resources which it possesses. The waters of Pakistan have the potential to generate 50,000MW of clean and cost-effective electricity, which remains largely underutilized.
The importance of water resources was identified and recognized in early 1960s and with the support of global funding agencies, Tarbela and Mangla dams were constructed that irrigated our lands and provided low cost power to industry and residences ushering in an era of food security and industrialization.
Upon the historic signing of the Indus Water treaty by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru and the then President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan, in early 60s the focus of both countries was to bring in prosperity on both sides of the borders through amicable utilization of water resources allocated to each country.
Pakistan had then identified a number of feasible hydro power projects, including Kalabagh and Bhasha dams, under a well-defined plan to go for them in sequence. International donors were then very keen to finance them. Pakistan would have enjoyed a different landscape had we then capitalized on this opportunity. Unfortunately, however, subsequent political events and vested interests shifted away Pakistan's focus from hydro.
India, however, worked diligently on building dams and powerhouses on the Indus and checkmated Pakistan on this account, depriving its neighbour of its due share of water.
Encouraged by international donors, governments of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the last three decades opted for quick solutions to achieve short-term political gains and rewards. This approach to power general ushered in an era of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) based on expensive fuel oil and lately on coal and LNG.
There was a short period during the tenure of President Musharraf when the focus was moved to hydro and Wapda prepared its Vision 2020 with a view to providing food security and meeting country's power needs through construction of a series of hydropower plants. The government of Shaukat Aziz, however, shot down the plan because he believed that power generation was the prerogative of the private sector. In those days, Pakistan had surplus power and was looking at options to export it to India.
The recent trend of the government to revert back to the planning of the 1960s with focus on hydro is an encouraging development. Spurred by the availability of project funding from the Eximp Bank of China under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), private sector, too, is contemplating venturing into mega hydropower projects.
The flagship projects in the private sector are the 780MW Suki Kinari HPP sponsored by Syno Hydro of China and Karrot HPP of around the same capacity sponsored by the Four Gorges of China. Both are now under construction at a total cost of over $ 3 billion.
The government of KP, which hosts majority of hydro resources, has offered 5000MW of HPP to private sector. Chinese investors have shown interest to fund it under the CPEC.
Today, Pakistan is producing a highly expensive and inefficient electricity, hurting our industry, exports, agriculture and investments.
The government's decision to carry out the construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam through its own financial resources is a commendable feat, but it cannot afford to lose sight of many challenges ahead of it. The foremost is the timely and cost-effective execution of the project. The key to success lies in implementation, which is a key issue in Pakistan.
Wapda, the project sponsor, is not good at it anymore. The Neelum Jhelum HPP is a strong case in point. Everything which could go wrong on a project went wrong at Neelum-Jhelum HPP here - massive cost overruns, unaccounted delays, poor planning and many other technical and project management and governance lapses. This poor nation cannot afford to witness Neelum-Jhelum HPP.
Diamer-Bhasha Dam deserves to be professionally executed. The answer to this lies in professional project management and good governance. The starting point for which is the engagement of world-renowned consultants and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Company through a merit-based transparent process of competitive bidding.
(The writer is former President of Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry)
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