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IS IT REALLY ABOUT BUILDING BRIDGES?

Leh district is located near India and China’s current area of rising tensions. Apparently, the construction of bridge on Shyok River triggered the tension. I am assuming ,all is not what it appears to be. Leh contains the Indus , Shyok and Nubra river valley.

Katzarah dam is a proposed dam located near Shyok, Shigar and Indus Rivers in Pakistan. It is said that Katzarah dam would create one of the world largest water  reservoir (Larger than Hoover dam). It would create storage in three gorges. According to President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectual Forum(PBIF) and Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) it is six times greater than Kalabagh dam. Katzarah dam’s life is far longer than Kalabagh dam and it would take lesser time to construct it too.

Due to the multipurpose nature of dams, World Bank is globally reluctant to fund them.

Pre-feasibility report for Katzarah dam was proposed in April 1962. This dam could regulate the water flow in Indus River in Pakistan which means that Pakistan being blessed with fertile land could “actually cultivate it”.

One fails to understand why the government is fixated on controversial dams and keeps on ignoring far more superior options such as Katzarah dam?(not to be confused with Sakardu dam).

This is yet another hurtful example of lack of sustainable long term planning in the country. More than half a century (1956 to 2020) with the proposal and we are still lost in the pages of history.

Even if the World Bank is not funding the project, Pakistan (with its financial constraints) could have looked into other options of joint ventures/partnerships on this project. CPEC is the perfect example of such partnership. With the cost of CPEC being many times higher than Katzarah dam.

We urge the government to pay much needed attention to this project and open a new chapter of dam building in Pakistan.

It’s better to be late than never.

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The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not represent the views of Energy Resource Management.

Author: S. Khan

LLM Oil and Gas Law and Policy                                                                                             

University of Dundee

 

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