Technical Facts and Differing Opinions
Bashir A. Malik, former chief technical advisor of the United Nations and World Bank, has said "Sindh and Pakhtunkhwah would become drought areas in the years to come, if Kalabagh Dam was not built." At the same time former KPK Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk has stated that the "Kalabagh Dam would be helpful in erasing poverty from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, as it would irrigate 800,000 acres of cultivable land that is located 100-150 feet above the level of River Indus." Kalabagh Dam would provide 6.5 million acre feet of water to cultivate seven million acres of currently barren land. This is in addition to the 3,800 MW of electricity it would provide. In response to the push towards side-lining Kalabagh altogether in favor of the Basha Dam project, Engineer Anwer Khurshid stated that "Basha Dam is no substitute for Kalabagh dam not because of its altitude which is high enough, but because no irrigation canals can be taken out from it because of the hilly terrain".
Other experts who have strongly supported the construction of the Kalabagh dam at the "Save Water Save Pakistan" Forum include: Dr Salman Shah, former finance minister, Abdul Majeed Khan, TECH Society president, Shafqat Masood, former IRSA chairman, Qayyum Nizami, former minister of state, Prof Abdul Qayyum Qureshi, former vice chancellor of Islamia University, Bahawalpur, Dr Muhammad Sadiq, agricultural scientist, M Saeed Khan, former GM of Kalabagh Dam Project, Mansoor Ahmed, former MD of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Foundation and Jameel Gishkori, among others. The participants of Save Water Save Pakistan Forum session demanded in their recommendations implementation on building five dams, including Munda dam, Kurram Tangi dam, Akhori dam and Kalabagh dam, at least by 2025 to store water and generate electricity to meet the demand.
In contrast, Former Chief Engineer WAPDA, Engr. Shahr-i-Yar Khan has claimed that the construction of Kalabagh Dam is not suitable for NWFP which will cause unnecessary wastage of huge funds as compared to many other suitable sites of dams proposed on Indus river. Shahr-i-Yar Khan, who had served on various positions of WAPDA, besides getting training abroad, highlight various issues related to the Kalabagh Dam construction at length. He was of the view that the construction of Kalabagh Dam has a number of adverse effects on the generation of Barotha power complex.
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