Diamer Bhasha Dam project: Almost 30,000 people relocated for construction: study

LAHORE: Almost 30,000 people have been relocated from their homes in 31 villages for the construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam project including its reservoir, said a study to gauge the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the dam. Under the adverse impact, according to the study, the most severe would be relocating/resettling a large portion of the local population. Submerging their homes, severing their socioeconomic activities of cultivation and animal husbandry and deteriorating the social structure of traditional villages and neighbourhoods would have to be considered as the most serious implications.

Environmentalists Wajahat Ali, Iqtidar Hussain, Haroon Rashida, and Abdul Nasir have conducted the study which suggests that the construction of dam would significantly change the environment of the area which includes relocating, submerging cultivated and rangeland, thus denying the essential food, economic base, particularly of local farmers, altering the natural river regime through establishing a reservoir with large seasonal fluctuations, river channel erosion and sedimentation.

It would also be adversely impacting cultural heritage through submergence of a large number of unique rock carvings and submerging the habitats of amphibians, reptiles and birds, it added.

The study has recommended appropriate measures to mitigate the significant loss of 525,775 trees in the reservoir area through full compensation for the lost trees including free salvage of wood, removal of some adult trees to the new locations, if possible, re-planting of trees in new locations - model villages, new/relocated roads and the buffer zone between 1160 and 1170 meters above sea level, removal of adult trees is being followed in some large international projects. Under this approach, the people are offered transportation to the new resettlement locations. This measure can also create favourable conditions for the construction of new houses in the model villages. However, this approach for this particular case may fail due to the size of trees and transportation difficulty.

On the other hand, the study has pointed out that there would be accrual of very large positive benefits of the dam to the economy of entire Pakistan through enhanced irrigation supplies, 35 years prolonged useful life of Tarbela Dam, economic growth of millions of Pakistani peoples, contributing over 19000 GWh of energy per annum to the national power grid, and avoidance of sizeable greenhouse gas emissions to retard global warming. Notwithstanding this, the government and WAPDA are endeavouring to contain/mitigate the negative impacts of the project on the local environment.

It said the energy crisis is one of the major problems, which was faced by Pakistan in order to overcome those crises Pakistan need to be developed and improved in the energy sector. Throughout the country the demand for water and power increasing day by day therefore hydropower projects are the need of the hour in Pakistan. Before the initiation of any project, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) plays an important role in evaluating the nature of the project on different factors.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020