The Bhasha Dam Rip-off
People in the Northern Areas are upset over the Bhasha/Diamir Dam controversy. Initially, they were not against the dam but are now furious about the way they are being cheated out of its benefits even before the ground-breaking ceremony has taken place. They are unhappy because some vested interests have succeeded in naming it Bhasha Dam, after a village in the neighbouring Kohistan district of the NWFP, when the entire reservoir is situated in the Diamir district of the Northern Areas. They are disappointed because ill-intentioned planners are creating an unnecessary dispute by choosing to set up the power station on the left bank of the Indus in Bhasha, rather than establishing the same on the right bank of the river in the Northern Areas.
The proposed dam, located 165 kilometres, from Gilgit will submerge 110 kilometres of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) in Diamir, from the dam site to Raikot Bridge next to the Fairy Meadows right below Nanga Parbat. Some 24,000 people will be displaced when every low-lying village in Diamir along the KKH is inundated. However, in accordance with the constitution, royalties will go to the province where the power station, not the reservoir, is located. So it is simple: the Northern Areas will foot the bill for all the social, economic and ecological costs of Bhasha Dam while the NWFP will pocket the royalties. Very equitable.
The Diamir Dam (not Bhasha) site is 314 kilometres upstream of Tarbela on the Indus. According to specifications available with Wapda, the dam is sited at a pronounced bend where the Indus is roughly 160 metres wide. Here the selected axis entails the possible inundation of a large tract of barren land along with interspersed villages dominated by the town of Chilas. The maximum depth of the river bed alluvium is 55 metres near the right bank. The bedrock has been identified for foundation and embankment structures, and has been deemed positive for low compressibility. Nonetheless, the distance of the dam site from power-load centres would require heavy investment to establish a connection with the national grid.
The project will be an earth- and rock-filled dam costing US$6.5 billion with a powerhouse likely to be built on the left bank of the Indus in Bhasha village, carrying an installed capacity of 3,360 MW. The reservoir in Diamir district would have a gross capacity of 7.3 MAF and a live storage of 5.7 MAF. In case the government decides to build the powerhouses on the right bank of the Indus, royalty accruing from the dam will go to the Northern Areas. Part of this money could be allocated to Diamir district, one of the most backward areas even within the context of the Northern Areas.
A lot more homework is required in terms of financial, social and environmental impact before actual construction can start. Detailed engineering designs featuring spillways and flood resistance freeways have to be prepared and finalised before any major construction work can take place. Given the high level of sedimentation flow, the estimated lifespan of Diamir Dam is about 80 to 100 years. The dam may, however, reduce sediment inflow to Tarbela by 40 per cent. It will also significantly prolong the life of Kalabagh Dam, if it is ever constructed.
The spontaneous reaction in Diamir suggests that any attempt to build the dam without resolving the boundary dispute between the Northern Areas and the NWFP, renaming the dam and evolving a fair agreement regarding sharing of benefit will land the project in serious trouble. In the past, there were some half-hearted attempts to resolve outstanding issues. In the early 1990s, for instance, the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Affairs (KANA) constituted a standing committee comprised by officials from the NWFP government and the Northern Areas. As the administration functionaries were also from the NWFP, discussions obviously remained one-sided due to the non-representative character of the committee. Since then there have been suggestions to refer the case to the Council of Common Interest (CCI), a constitutional body empowered to resolve inter-provincial conflicts. But since the Northern Areas is a disputed territory and outside the constitutional ambit of Pakistan, it is highly unlikely that a conflict between a federating and non-federating unit can be placed under arbitration by the CCI.
The Ministry of Kashmir and Northern Areas Affairs recently took the positive step of directing Wapda to brief the Northern Areas Legislative Council on the dam initiative. This was the first time that the federal government made an effort to put the public representatives of the region into the loop. However, Wapda officials have failed to satisfy the local leadership on various counts including rehabilitation, compensation and royalty. Many local politicians argue that since the Northern Areas are legally and technically part of the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, the government cannot build a dam without amending Article 1 of the constitution. They further insist that in case the Government of Pakistan is serious about providing justice to the people, it must also do away with Article 161(2) of the constitution, which stipulates that "the net profit earned by the federal government, or any undertaking established or administered by the federal government, from the bulk generation of power at [a] hydro-electric station shall be paid to the province in which the hydro-electric station is situated."
In 2001, the Northern Areas Legislative Council came up with a joint resolution in favour of the construction of the dam on the condition that it be renamed Diamir Dam, but the generous offer, as is usual, received no attention in Islamabad. Today the public mood in the region has changed dramatically. People in the Northern Areas, and particularly Diamir, strongly believe that they should have been consulted, taken into confidence about the blessings and blights of the dam. Their long-standing conflict over boundaries with the NWFP should have been settled, and they should have been extended assurances for a fair treatment before the political announcement was made regarding construction of the dam.
That did not happen, and now people in Diamir and elsewhere in the Northern Areas are furious, reacting in the way Sindhis and Pakhtuns fussed over Kalabagh. They will protest, strike, grow violent, but in the end their demand for fairness and justice will most likely be ignored. Just as all their concerns about turning Gilgit and Baltistan into the faceless and ambiguous 'Northern Areas' have been ignored, just as their inalienable political and constitutional rights have been ignored for the last 58 years, just as their once popular accession to Pakistan has been ignored in the name of Kashmir. There is only one hope: when the president performs the ground-breaking ceremony at the dam site, he will break new grounds by providing justice to the unfairly wronged people of the Northern Areas.
by : M.Ismail Khan