Construction of Akhori dam: Sindh government gets deadline to clarify its position

Islamabad: Sindh government has been given a two-week un-extendable deadline to clarify its position on Akhori dam, as the federal government is keen to start work on at least one of the major dams planned to be constructed by 2016.

Sources told Business Recorder on Thursday that the federal authorities including the Water and Power Ministry and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had been under tremendous pressure for their failure to build any major reservoirs during the past 30 years or so.

'As the Sindh government is still to give its official stand on Akhori dam, the federal authorities including Water and Power Ministry, planning and development (P&D) division and Wapda are geared up to know the official version of the province on the project,' the sources added.

The federal authorities are of the view that they cannot afford to further delay the construction of dams as the country is confronting the worst ever energy crisis. This crisis has necessitated the construction of major dams, as there is no other way to resolve the crisis on long lasting basis, according to the sources.

The sources said that the total cost of Akhori dam had been estimated at Rs 267 billion. However, the cost could go up as the prices of raw material were rising rapidly in the local market and the federal and provincial authorities were not keeping pace with aggravating situation, sources added.

A technical committee formed by the MMA government in 2006 expressed strong reservations on the construction of Akhori dam. 'The project will harm the interests of the province,' according to the technical committee.

According to the Frontier's technical committee the foundations of Akhori Dam are not strong enough to support a dam with a height of 250-feet. The committee, which was headed by former Irsa chairman, Fatehullah Gandapur - a strong opponent of Kalabagh dam, opined that the federal government was planning to build the dam with a height of 420-feet and this height is not feasible.

The other major objection of the Frontier is raising the height of Tarbela dam. The highest point of Tarbela Dam was about 1,550-feet, and this would have to be increased by at least 15 feet to provide a water channel for Akhori Dam, they added. The technical committee was of the view that raising the height of Tarbela dam would also be dangerous.

The Akhori Dam is one of the off-channel storage projects between Jhelum and Indus rivers, and has been planned to develop additional storage capacity in the Indus basin irrigation system. As proposed, the Akhori Dam will be filled mainly with the surplus flow of water from the Tarbela Dam. It has been estimated that land acquisition and resettlement of Akhori dam would cost Rs 68 billion.