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Pakistan cannot challenge construction of dam on Kabul River
ISLAMABAD (August 21 2003) : Pakistan has no legal authority to ask the Afghan government not to construct dam on Kabul River or at least change the reservoir construction site in the absence of water treaty between the two countries.
An official of the Water and Power Ministry told Business Recorder that if the Afghan government was serious in implementing the idea of dam construction on River Kabul Pakistan could not challenge it legally.
Pakistan was required to sign a sort of water treaty/agreement with Afghanistan.
Citing the example, he said that India and Pakistan have a water treaty, Indus Basin Treaty, which enabled Pakistan to challenge any Indian move interrupting flow of water to Pakistan.
The Afghan government intended to construct a dam on River Kabul, which would certainly affect the water availability in Pakistan.
River Kabul was contributing about 16 percent water to the irrigation system of Pakistan and the construction of dam upstream River Kabul would affect the supply, he said.
The official said that although Afghanistan had rivers other then Kabul, its dependence on River Kabul was more as compared to others and in future Afghanistan would certainly construct a dam to fulfil its increasing water requirements.
The official said that Afghanistan had four major rivers, including, the Amu Darya, the Hilmand, the Harirud and the Kabul.
River Kabul is in eastern Afghanistan and is about 700km long, and it runs 350 miles in Afghanistan.
Originating from Sanglakh Range 45 miles west of Kabul City, it flows east past Kabul and Jalalabad, north of the Khyber Pass into Pakistan, and then enters into Peshawar; it joins the River Indus near Attock.
The river has four major tributaries, the Lowgar, the Panjsher, the Kunnar, and the
Alingar. The catchment area of the river is about 26,000 sq. miles of which the Kunar Valley alone encompasses 9,500 sq. miles, most of which lies in Pakistan.
Whatever development in the form of water reservoir was possible on the River Kabul inside Afghanistan, had already been done in the shape of Nughlo Dam on River Punjsher, which was a larger tributary joining the River Kabul above Jalalabad.
Another development was the Daronta Dam near Jalalabad on the River Kabul. These
developments were made more than four decades back.
Their adverse affects on the irrigation system have not been noted but the government was now required to observe the development carefully, he said.
Actually, River Kabul is a smaller river flowing through the Kabul City, which swells owing to the Chitral or Kunnar River joining the River Kabul near Dakka in Afghanistan.
The Chitral or Kunnar River carries three-fourths of the volume of water of the entire system.
The River Kabul as it enters into Pakistan is a big river with an annual total yield of 17 million-acre feet of water (about 11 million-acre feet at Warsak).
Warsak Dam, which was constructed on River Kabul, would be much affected from the construction of reservoir in Afghanistan.If the agreement reached between the two countries, a dam can be constructed near Pak-Afghan border. Such a project can be a joint venture between the two countries and would safeguard the interest of both the sides.
The NWFP government (Irrigation Department) and the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has urged the federal government to stop Afghan government from constructing dam on River Kabul, otherwise it would affect the water supply from this source.
The NWFP government has also asked to enter into some sort of agreement with the Afghan government seeking assurances that no water storage project would be initiated on the River Kabul, which is one of the major irrigation water sources of the province.
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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