ISLAMABAD: The Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) has linked the final approval of Greater Thal Canal Phase-II with recommendations of Planning Commission (PC) to be prepared after meeting with the representatives of Sindh and Punjab governments, as Sindh is resisting the project, well informed sources told Business Recorder.
On December 22, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, informed the ECNEC, headed by Finance Advisor (now Finance Minister) that the project was cleared by the CDWP for consideration of ENCEC at a cost of Rs 38.4 billion with FEC of Rs 1.347 billion on October 06, 2021.
The project includes construction of Chaubara branch canal system and Command Area Development (CAD) of Main Canal, Mankera branch canal and Chaubara branch canal systems with financial assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB). The entire cost of the project was to be borne by the Punjab government. Approval of the ECNEC was solicited, as the project is more than Rs. 10 billion.
Punjab irrigation minister informed the forum that Greater Thal Canal Project was originally conceived in 2002 to construct Main Canal and five branch canal systems (Mankera, Chaubara, Dhingana, Nurpur and Mahmood sub Branch).
Total Canal Command Area (CCA) of the project is 1.739 million acres with water allowance of 3.88 cusec per 1000 acres. A water allocation of 2.497 MAF is made in water Apportionment Accord of 1991, for the Greater Thal Canal.
Further, IRSA has already issued water availability certificate for Greater Thal Canal on May 8, 2002 and has endorsed it once again through letter of September 23, 2021.
Thereafter, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro and Minister Irrigation Sindh noted that since water in the Indus system is already insufficient for the existing canals, therefore, construction of Greater Thal Canal is not advisable at all. Particularly, it would harm water availability for Sindh and its irrigation system.
The Member Sindh [on video link] raised concern of Sindh province regarding water availability, being the lower riparian.
He also stated that the recommendations of the CDWP were incomplete as the viewpoint of the Sindh government has not been obtained. The representatives of the Sindh government suggested formulating a committee to address the concerns of his province.
Responding to the concern, Minister and Secretary Irrigation Punjab explained that plans for the construction of a canal to irrigate Thal Doab had existed since the late nineteenth century. However, work on it, as in the case of many other projects for the development of water resources, could not commence for various reasons.
A major hurdle in this regard was the lack of consensus on apportionment of Indus Waters. This was overcome in 1991 when all the four provinces reached the Water Apportionment Accord. In the wake of this Accord, federal government approved several water sector development projects for all the four provinces at its own expense.
These included Greater Thal Canal project for the Punjab, Rainee Canal for Sindh, Kachi Canal for Balochistan and Chashma Right Bank Canal for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Accordingly, a PC-I for the construction of Greater Thar Canal was prepared by Wapda in December 2001 which was finally approved by ECNEC on February, 28, 2002. As per PC-I, the project was approved for implementation in the following two phases at a cost of Rs. 30.467 billion: (i) Phase 1 - Main Canal, Mankera Branch, Chaubara Branch, Dhingana Branch and their distribution system and ;(ii) Phase 1 - Main Canal, Mankera Branch, Chaubara Branch, Dhingana Branch and their distribution system.
It was further stated that work on a new canal project requires water availability certificate from IRSA for which the Government of the Punjab approached IRSA on April 10, 2002. After in depth deliberations, IRSA issued water availability certificate for Greater Thal canal on May 8, 2002.
They also stated that at the time of signing of the water Apportionment Accord, Punjab had sacrificed 0.99 MAF out of its share in the waters of Indus River system for Rabi season as well as 13 per cent of its share in flood waters and 38% share in future storages.
In return, water allocation for Greater Thar Canal was included in the Accord itself. Accordingly, Council of Common Interests (CCI) in its meeting held on September 16, 1991, while approving water allocation for the canal systems in Pakistan in terms of paragraph 14(a) of the Accord, provided a separate allocation for Greater Thal Canal with full consensus.
This approved water allocation, including 2.496 MAF water for Greater Thal Canal is now a part of the Accord. As against this, allocations for Rainee, Kachi and Chashma Right Bank Canal are not included in separate system-wise allocations approved by the CCI. However, Punjab has not raised any objection to the running of these canals. Therefore, Greater That Canal, which has a better legal standing than these canals, should not be discriminated.
The meeting was further informed that in the wake of ECNEC approval, WAPDA commenced with the construction of Greater Thal Canal in 2002. However, after partial completion of the first phase i.e. completion of 35 km long Main Canal with a discharge capacity of 8,500 cusecs and Mankera Branch Canal system at a cost of Rs. 10.17 billion federal government asked Government of the Punjab to take up the project further from its own resources. The main canal and Mankera Branch were taken over by the Irrigation Department, Punjab, on June 30, 2010, and those are being run since then.
The current project is being presented in compliance with this direction of the federal government, as construction of Chaubara Branch and allied system was already approved by the ECNEC on February 28, 2002 as part, of PC-I.
It was further stated that the main canal with a capacity to withdraw full share of 8,500 cusecs is already constructed at a huge cost of Rs. 10.17 billion and is drawing water though Mankera Branch without having any impact on rights of Sindh.
However, full returns from this investment will not become available unless remaining components are constructed immediately.
The Minister Irrigation Punjab mentioned that the apprehensions on water availability are unfounded. As per section 8(g) of the Indus River system Authority Act, 1992, the IRSA is the sole authority to make recommendations to the ECNEC on water availability for a new canal project.
As mentioned earlier, IRSA has already issued water availability certificate for the entire Greater Thal Cana1 project including Chaubara Branch on May 8, 2002 and has reiterated the validity of the certificate in view of the current water situation in 2021. Further, as per the directions of CDWP, Punjab has already submitted a certificate that operation of Chaubara Branch will not affect the entitlement of any other canal in the province or for that matter any other province.
Further, attention was invited to paragraph 8 of the water Apportionment Accord, which clearly mentions that there shall be no restriction on provinces to undertake new projects within their agreed share.
The share of Greater Thal Canal is mentioned in the Accord in the overall share of Punjab. Accord itself which was signed by no less than the Chief Ministers of all the provinces with full consensus. Hence opposition to Greater Thal Canal is not justified.
On a query from the Chair, Secretary Irrigation Punjab also presented statistics on water availability in the Indus River system for the period 1993-2020 based on IRSA records. He stated that as per these statistics, after satisfying the needs of all canals in Pakistan and mandatory ecological flows downstream Kotri, sufficient water remained available during each year to satisfy the needs of not only the Greater Thal Canal but also Kachi Canal and planned Chashma Right Bank Canal for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He also pointed out that if such surplus water was not available, construction of Bhasha Dam at a cost of Rs. 479. 686 billion had made no sense at all. He also explained that, Greater Thal Canal is a non-perennial canal and is run in summers, when additional supplies from snow melt and monsoon are available in abundance.
Minister Irrigation, Punjab concluded that the upshot of this discussion is twofold i.e. (a) sufficient water is available for the Greater Thal canal as certified by IRSA which is the only agency to make recommendation on this aspect in terms of section 8(g) of the Indus River system Authority Act, 1992; and (b) the component concerning construction of Chaubara Branch was approved earlier by ECNEC on Feb 28, 2002 as part of Greater Thal Canal project. Irrigation Department Punjab has again approached the ECNEC only in right of the federal government’s instructions to change the source of funding from PSDP to Punjab’s own resources.
The Chair observed that the project has been already approved by the ECNEC. It is presented in the context of a change in the source of funding. The project has been cleared by the CDWP, therefore, the ECNEC would only look at the project from purely technical and economic prospective. However, the Planning Commission should hold a meeting with the representatives of the Sindh to listen to their concerns.
After threadbare discussion, the ECNEC approved the project in principle, subject to the condition that the Planning Commission shall hold a meeting with representatives of the Government of Sindh and Punjab and the final recommendation shall be submitted to ECNEC in its next meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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