Denudation of Swat

This article was originally published in The News, Pakistan.

Pakistan is passing through its worst energy crisis, and it needs more power plants to overcome it. Whenever there is need for more dams, what are now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan are invariably the sites for them because this part of the country is blessed with abundant water resources.

However, what must be given top consideration in the planning and designing of these projects is that they are carried out in a way that the local population and the environment are not adversely affected. Nor should tourism suffer in what is is unarguably the loveliest part of the country in terms of natural beauty.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa the agency responsible for hydroelectric power generation is the Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation (Shydo). However, the track record of this organisation, which is under the provincial government, is not impressive.

Shydo conducted a feasibility study for a project on Daral River, a tributary of Swat River in Bahrain, the main town of Swat. It conceived the Daral Khwar Hydropower Project on the river with a capacity of 36 megawatts. The plan is to divert Daral River through a tunnel six kilometres into Daral Valley from Bahrain, and at the same time to divert the water at Purana Gaun to the east of Bahrain. Besides, along the tunnel a road of over six kilometres is to be constructed.

More than 30,000 people in Bahrain and the valley are dependent on the river for drinking water and irrigation. The river also sustains the environment and tourism. The river – foaming as it roars through Bahrain – is the most fascinating tourist destination in Swat Valley. Daral River is the backbone of the economy and the environment and eventually the very means of subsistence for the local people.

Each summer hundreds of tourists come to Bahrain and rent houses mostly built on either sides of the river. This boosts the meagre local economy.

Similarly, there are over 50 hotels and restaurants, which attract visitors owing to their proximity to the river. In addition there are watermills, privately owned micro hydroelectric generators installed near the river.

The road Shydo plans to build despite strong local opposition will have to be constructed at the cost of more than 40,000 oak trees, which will have to be felled on the eastern hills of Bahrain. This ugly denudation will add to the creeping deforestation in the area. On the other hand, it will increase the number of flash floods. The road designed near the forest will also give access to the timber mafia to the precious deodar trees. The diversion of the river will cause tremendous loss to tourism, agriculture, the environment and the already diminishing forests, as well as the livelihoods of the local people.

Realising the threats from this project the local community, with the support of local civil society organisations, raised the issue with Shydo and its funding agency, the Asian Development Bank. The ADB responded positively and put the local people’s reservations before Shydo. Only then did Shydo officials come to talk to with their representatives.

After two years of talks between the two sides, the ADB sent an independent mission to the site for a study which concluded that the project did not deserve to be financed. The ADP decided not to give the planned Rs5.56 billion fund.

But Shydo has persuaded the provincial government to take up the project. It has even advertised the Expressions of Interests with Oct 31 as the deadline. It is reported that a number of contractors have shown their interest.

The local people and the civil society organisations supporting them are not against the construction of a project. They only seek a re-design which does not involve the river’s diversion from its present route through Bahrain, and the destruction of the trees and devastation of the environment that will follow.

The local community also seeks a 10 percent annual royalty from the income generated by the project, for the amount to be allocated to the development of tourism, education and health facilities in the area. If the demands of the affected people are not addressed, they intend to approach the Supreme Court for justice.

The writer is head of IBT and coordinator of the Environment Protection Network in Bahrain, Swat. Email: ztorwali@gmail.com