Special
Reports/Water Crisis |
Kishanganga dam — another set of failed
water talks
By Aamir
Kabir
DESPITE improved bilateral relations and growing international
pressure to patch up differences, decade long negotiations
between India and Pakistan on the controversial Kishanganga
dam project have failed as well and Pakistan is now likely to
move to the World Bank for arbitration, as it had done in the
case of Baglihar dam.
After
awaiting a bilateral resolution on the Baglihar dispute for
years, Pakistan finally requested the World Bank on January
18, to appoint a neutral expert under the provisions of the
treaty, signed in 1960 between India and
Pakistan to determine the usage of six rivers.
The dispute over the 330-megawatt
Kishanganga hydro-power project across the river Jhelum
centres on the diversion of water from one tributary of
the river to another. Pakistan says this violates Indus Water
Treaty whereas India says the diversion is within the
provisions of the treaty, which governs water sharing between
the two nuclear rivals.
Kishanganga dam is located about 160-km
upstream Muzzafarabad and involved diversion of
Kishanganga (called Neelum in Pakistan) to a tributary named
Bunar Madumati Nullah of Jhelum river through a 22-km tunnel.
Its power house will be constructed near Bunkot in Indian held
Kashmir and the water will be re-routed into the river Jhelum
through Wullar Lake.
This diversion will change the course of river Neelum by
around 100-km, which will finally join river Jhelum through
Wullar lake near Bandipur town of Baramula district in Indian
held Kashmir. Presently, Neelam and Jhelum rivers join each
other near Muzaffarabad at Domail.
As a consequence of this 100-km
diversion of the Neelum river, Pakistan’s Neelum Valley
is likely to dry up and become a desert. The most important
issue here is the diversion of the Neelum river waters to the
Wuller lake.
Pakistan has made it known that such a diversion contravenes
the Indus Water Treaty which would compromise Pakistan’s
rights over the river and reduce the flow of water into
Pakistan significantly. Further, any construction on the
Neelum river upstream will affect power generation capacity of
Pakistan’s Neelam-Jhelum power project.
Pakistan has expressed reservations about the design of the
dam, the inter-tributary transfer of waters, as well as sought
protection of the existing land uses. According to some
reserved estimates, completion of the 22km long tunnel to
divert water from the Kishanganga to the Wuller lake will
leave Pakistan facing a 27 per cent
water deficit.
When completed, the project would reduce flow (pressure) of
the Neelum river and thus decrease the power generation
capability of Pakistan’s proposed 969-mw Neelum-Jhelum
hydropower project in Azad Kashmir by
more than 20 per cent or about 100-mw.
Rejecting Pakistan’s opposition to the project, New Delhi says
that according to the Indus Water Treaty, India had been
allowed to build specified storage limited to 3.6 million acre
feet (MAF) on western rivers which it has not built so far.
India estimates that annual water flow in the western rivers
namely the Indus, the Jhelum and the
Chenab stands at 135.6 MAF. Discounting that the
proposed Kishanganga project will affect the flow in the river
Neelam, India believes that the stream would be maintained at
any cost to Pakistan, since these rivers have been allocated
to it.
India says that he was only diverting Neelam to join the
Jhelum at Bandipur near Wullar lake rather than in
Muzaffarabad, and is of the view that the water would
ultimately reach Pakistan through the river Jhelum, though not
in the shape of the river Neelam. But it fails to satisfy
Pakistan that what will then happen to Pakistan Neelam-Jhelum
power project at which Pakistan have already spent around a
billion rupee.
Unfortunately, Kishanganga dam dispute has gained impetus at a
time when Indian and Pakistani leaders have been trying to
create an atmosphere of mutual understanding and trust.
However, the explosive nature of both countries’ energy needs
and their ever-increasing irrigation water demand are
potentially capable of dealing the peace process a fatal blow.
Although sharing of river waters is not as politically
sensitive as the Kashmir dispute, analysts say it has the
potential of becoming increasingly contentious as the power
and irrigation needs of both countries are growing rapidly.
Experts believe that the Kishanganga dam could reduce
Pakistan’s total water availability from an
estimated 154 MAF to about 140 MAF per
year and leave unutilized a significant portion of the
Mangla dam’s storage capacity besides declining the pressure
required to generate electricity in Neelum-Jehlum power
project. If Pakistan did not start construction of
Neelum-Jehlum power project immediately, technically it will
be obliged under the treaty to allow India use these waters
for power generation without storage. That’s why it is in
hurry to go with the Neelam Jhelum power project which
involves a very difficult design, including a 32-km tunnel to
divert the flow of the Neelum river underneath the Jhelum
riverbed.
The Indus Waters Treaty sets up a legal regime, determining
the rights and obligations of both countries concerning the
use of the Indus Basin waters. The use of the eastern rivers
(Sutlej, Beas and Ravi) has been
allocated to India, while Pakistan is entitled to unrestricted
use of the western rivers (Indus, Jhelum
and Chenab).
India can only interfere with the flow of the western rivers
for domestic, non-consumptive, (navigation, flood control,
fishing and wildlife), agricultural and the generation of
hydroelectric power with out any storage works. Pakistan now
believes that making any further concessions to India could
actually create difficulties for their sustainable use in the
future as the country already faces a water shortage. Any
interference with the flow of the western rivers will only
aggravate the situation for water-starved Pakistan.
Pakistan therefore needs to look at this project very closely
and wisely for its impact on water flows and the environment.
It is important to move towards an early resolution of the
issue through any forum at any level. Keeping in view past
experiences, India will not negotiate with Pakistan in good
faith instead use delaying tactics while going ahead with the
implementation on the ground of such controversial project.
Water is crucial for Pakistan. A cooperative framework is
better options to share water in line with Indus Water Treaty,
rather then to rob others share by taking advantage of being
an upper riparian.
Water sharing from common international rivers is nothing new
all around the world. According to a UN survey, out of 200
international rivers, 70 per cent of them are being shared by
two countries. There are about 1228 water sharing treaties
that were signed in the last 50 years.
Courtesy :
The DAWN
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Pakissan.com;
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