Governments in Pakistan have for long ignored the worth of small dams, insisting instead on building mega dams despite the opposition they evoked in the smaller provinces. The present government too remains committed to big projects, including the controversial Kalabagh dam, but the good news is that it is getting serious about smaller projects as well.
According to a Recorder Report, backed by the Centre the Sindh government has planned to construct more than 200 small dams in different parts of the province. The federal and provincial governments are still at odds as to whether the former should pay the full amount of Rs 12 billion project cost or share it with the latter on a fifty-fifty basis.
Nonetheless, a body called Small Dams Organisation (SDO) has been set up to pursue the work on the project, which is to be completed in a phased manner. Appropriately, the first phase is to focus on the Tharparkar region - the most water scarce part of Sindh. However, as our report points out, Thar receives a significant amount of rainfall, but a large quantity of this rainwater ends up in the Arabian Sea, and hence goes to waste. It is that water which is to be stored in dams so that it can be used both for drinking and irrigation purposes.
Small dams, of course, have different uses depending on their location and capacity. In places like Thar, they can serve as an important source for provision of drinking water. And if our planners are willing to learn from certain outside examples, efficient water management techniques even in Thar can turn some of the barren desert tracts into fertile farmlands. In other parts of the country, there are plenty of points where water can be collected for irrigation as well as for hydroelectric power production. Indeed, construction of small dams can make an important contribution to the country's developmental effort.
Small dams are becoming more and more popular world-wide because they do not entail any social or environmental costs. Those in Pakistan who oppose big dam projects are often accused of being politically motivated, biased or just plain ignorant of the benefits the projects promise to bring in terms of economic prosperity. But there are examples from other countries that show such dams, aside from having devastative effects on the flora and fauna, inflict heavy social as well as economic costs on the affected people. Which is why during the recent years public opinion has been increasingly shifting from large to small-scale dam construction.
It was a while ago when the present government had announced with great confidence that all the proposed big dams will be constructed within the next few years. It mounted a serious and sustained campaign to convince the opponents of the idea in NWFP and Sindh, only to find the opposing opinion unbendable. At least for now the Kalabagh proposal is back in the cold storage. The situation being what it is, it makes eminent sense for all the four provinces to pursue the alternative course of small dam construction.