Mega Multipurpose Dams Imperative for Sustainable Economy of Pakistan

Pakistan has abundant water resources in the form of Indus River System (IRS).Agriculture and hydroelectricity of country is mostly dependent on IRS. It maintains World’s largest integrated surface irrigation network called as Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) providing irrigation facilities to 17.85 million hectares (ha) of land. The IRS has over 169 billion m3 (138 MAF) of flows available for irrigation annually and 57000 MW hydropower potential. Out of which about 6500 MW of hydel potential and live storage capacity of 22 billion m3 (18 MAF) have been harnessed which are about 12% of total flows available and hydropower potential in the country. Flows in rivers are uneven and variation in high flow to low flow is more than 100 times. During recent years economy of Pakistan suffers tremendously due to incredible rise in oil prices and the government had paid about US $11 billion as subsidy in electricity sector during the last 4 years. Moreover Flood 2010 (Calamity of decade) due to unprecedented Monsoon rains affected about 20 million people and destructed the infrastructure across the country. The number of individuals affected by Flood 2010 exceeds the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Flood 2010 caused losses about US $10 billion. The total colossal loss is almost four times the size of Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) of the country. This paper highlights the economic benefits gained upto 2005 by the existing mega multipurpose dam’s i.e. Mangla (1000 MW, LS 5.52 km3) and Tarbela (3478 MW, LS 11.90 km3) commissioned in 1967 and 1976 respectively which constitute about 75 %of total existing storage capacity and hydropower infrastructure. If 2 more such dams have been constructed after 1976 during last century then indigenous, inexpensive and dependable hydel generation in the energy mix has catered recent rise in oil prices and calamity due to 2010 Flood effectively. The results show that sustainable economy of Pakistan is only possible by building mega multipurpose dams for storage, hydropower and flood control.

Mega Multipurpose Dams Imperative for Sustainable Economy of Pakistan Keywords:

Indus River System , Indus Basin Irrigation System , 2010 Flood , Terbela & Mangla dam