RecommendedMust Read
LONDON: The World Sindhi Congress (WSC) has strongly condemned the Pakistani Government’s decision to build a Diamer-Bhasha Dam on the Indus River.
In a statement, WSC has said that Sindh and indigenous people of Sindh are already suffering from the shortage of agriculture water and required discharge into the Arabian Sea to block the seawater intrusion into the mainland. Subsequently, building any new dam will make things worse.
The construction of mega-dams completely changes the relationship between water, land, and indigenous people by destroying the existing ecosystem balance, which developed throughout thousands of years, said the WSC.
“Today’s world is moving away from mega-dams because of the enormous cost and significant damage to the environment and the people”, the statement read.
WSC urged the Pakistani administration to scrap any mega-dams from plans and instead focus thoroughly on modern water management and electricity generation from solar, nuclear, and other renewable energy sources.
According to reports, “The Diamer-Bhasha dam is expected to cost $14 billion with 6 MAF of live storage.” and it will take 30-years to payback. Whereas, new technologies which do not require billions of dollar investment and payback begins on the first day of the project.
