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dam-l LS: World Bank supporting Kalabagh Dam?
> ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 18 (UPI) -- Pakistan's plan for economic
> recovery has run into trouble following a dispute over a controversial
> dam the government intends to build in central Punjab province.
> Last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (``nuh-VAHZ shuh-REEF'')
> launched a plan to counter international sanctions imposed after
> Pakistan tested six nuclear weapons last month.
> Construction of the Kalabagh (``KAHL-uh-bahg'') Dam is one of the
> pillars of this plan. By building the dam, the government hopes to
> cultivate thousands of acres of barren land in Punjab.
> ``This will help save two billion dollars that Pakistan spends on
> importing food every year,'' says Agriculture Minister Abida Hussain
> (``AH-bid-uh hus-SAYN''). She says the project will enable the country
> to produce surplus food, generate additional electricity and create new
> employment.
> Pakistan also wants to build the dam now because the World Bank has
> offered to finance the project.
> But after last month's nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the World
> Bank has told the two South Asian nations it may cut off assistance for
> new projects, though projects already approved will continue to be
> funded.
> Pakistani planners fear the funds for Kalabagh Dam may lapse and
> never be replaced.
> The dam, proposed for the Indus River, is politically controversial,
> with two of Pakistan's four provinces objecting. Residents of the
> Northwest Frontier Province are unwilling to surrender hundreds of acres
> of fertile land under the dam, while residents of Sindh fear being
> deprived of irrigation water.
> Strikes have been observed or are planned in both provinces.
> Sharif has vowed to build the dam nonetheless.
--
Nadeem Jamali jamali@cs.uiuc.edu
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois-UC phone: (217)244-7115