Sindh objects to construction of Greater Thal Canal

KARACHI: The Sindh government has shown its disappointment over the construction of Greater Thal Canal (GTC) Phase-Il by declaring it ‘most destructive project’ for the province, and has sent a summary to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to stop it.

Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah on behalf of the Sindh chief minister and government has sent a two-page summary, copy of which is available with The News, saying that the Punjab province intends to construct Chaubara Branch Canal Construction Project - Greater Thal Canal (GTC) Phase-Il -- and its Canal Command Area Development (CAD). The Greater Thal Canal offtakes from Chashma Jhelum Link Canal at RD 180+222, and the Canal Command Area (CCA) is 1.739 million acres.

The summary added that work on Phase-l of the Greater Thal Canal Project was started by Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in 2001 with design discharge of 8,500 cusecs, against the maximum allocation of 5,900 cusecs for the canal as per Water Accord 1991. The total requirement of the Greater Thal Canal Project is 2.497 MAF from flood supplies and it would irrigate Khushab, Bhakkar, Layyah and Jhang districts. Despite protest from all sections of the Sindh province, the water availability NOC was obtained with 3:2 majority from Indus River System Authority (Irsa). On May 7, 2002, under Para-2 and Para-4 of Water Apportionment Accord 1991, the dissenting notes of the Sindh Member Irsa and Federal Member Irsa, were placed.

The Sindh Assembly in its sitting held on February 28, 2003, and June 19, 2003 had passed a unanimous resolutions against the construction of Greater Thal Canal as it is against the interest of the people of Sindh.

The Water Accord was signed amongst the provinces on March 16, 1991 and rectified by the CCI on March 21, 1991. The ten-daily allocations were made part of the accord by the CCI on September 16, 1991 as per Para 14(a) and 14(b) of the Water Accord.

However, the Punjab province included allocations of water to conceive Greater Thal Canal in the Water Apportionment Accord 1991. Para 14(b) of the accord instructs that the "actual average system-uses for the period 1977-82 would form the guideline for developing the future regulation pattern. These ten-daily uses would be adjusted pro-rata to correspond to the indicated seasonal allocations of the different canal systems and would form the basis for sharing the shortages and surpluses on all Pakistan basis".

It is imperative to mention that the GTC project was not in existence at the time of 1991 Accord, therefore, there was no pattern in existence for preparation of ten-daily uses of the GTC. Sindh's objection to allocation to Greater Thal Canal at that time is part of the record, said the summary.

It described that the Sindh Assembly, in its sitting held on November 22, 2021, once again passed a resolution and expressed grave concern over construction of Jalalpur Canal and Greater Thal Canal (Phase-Il) and demanded immediate stopping of the process and construction of these projects in the best interest of the people of Sindh.

Nevertheless, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in its meeting held on December 22, 2021, approved the project in principle, subject to the condition that the Planning Commission would hold a meeting with representatives of the Sindh and Punjab and accordingly submit the final recommendations to the Ecnec.

In this regard two consultative sessions were held in the Planning Commission under Member (I&M/I&RC) on December 28, 2021 and January l3, 2022. Later, a meeting was also held on February 10, 2022 under the Planning Commission deputy chairman to discuss the issue wherein the Government of Sindh vehemently opposed the construction of the project till the distribution of water was implemented according to Para-2 and ten-daily allocations as approved by the CCI at the time of Water Apportionment Accord in 1991.

Disregarding Sindh's stance, Ecnec in its meeting held on March 16, 2022, approved the project with certain conditions regarding credible monitoring mechanism to ensure that the Punjab remains within its allocated share and installation of Telemetry System etc.

Subsequently, in its meeting dated May 31, 2023, Ecnec considered the summary submitted by the Federal Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives and decided that the matter would be taken up at an appropriate level and forum as required under the Constitution.

Ecnec, in its meeting held on February 07, 2024, just a day before General Elections 2024, ignoring the fact that the Greater Thal Canal (Phase-Il) was not part of the its agenda, and despite strong reservations shown by the Sindh government, granted its assent for controversial GTC project subject to the approval of the CCI. Ecnec also directed the Sindh government to present its views regarding techno-economic viability of GTC (Phase-[1) Project to the CCI.

A considered view of the Sindh government is that the GTC Project (Phase-II) would negatively impact the economy of Sindh as the province would lose its established share of water.

Technical viability involves the technical requirements, constraints and capabilities of the proposed project to determine whether it is feasible to construct and maintain it within the given constraints and available resources, the summary said, adding that the constraints with regards to the GTC relate to availability of water, and the province of Sindh believes that no additional water is available in Indus River System which can be diverted for the proposed project.

The system-wise allocations worked out on ten-daily basis were approved by the CCI on September 16, 1991. The GTC has an authorised allocation of 1.87 MAF in Punjab's share in ‘Kharif’, whereas, there is no allocation provided for it in the Rabi season.

The total allocations provided to all canals in Pakistan under the ten-daily allocations are equivalent to the seasonal allocations provided under Para-2 of the accord. Although, the allocation of 1.87 MAF for Greater Thal Canal gets its existence under Para-2 of the Accord, the project does not have any place in the allocation as the accord is not being allowed to operate as per Para-2 for the last 22 years or 50.

Irsa shows water shortages for the last two decades, and during some ten-daily of early Kharif, which is the sowing period, shortage in Sindh is more than 50 percent. Sindh has also suffered more than upper riparian due to non-availability of ground water and sea intrusion. Thus, construction of Greater Thal Canal will further aggravate freshwater availability in Pakistan in general, while the province of Sindh, being lower riparian, would be the worst affected, it said.

Economic viability necessitates profits of the project to be high enough to justify investment. It has also been observed that the project seems to be a move to regularise the operation of Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and bringing new areas and fallow lands under plough at the cost of existing canal command areas of lower riparian provinces. Besides factual/ legal position described above, Pakistan has been declared a water stressed country having per capita annual freshwater availability of 1,017 cubic meters close to scarcity threshold of 1,000 cubic meters, which was 3,950 cubic meters in 1961 and 1,500 cubic meters in 2009.

The summary further described that Pakistan has been placed at number three by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the list of countries facing acute water scarcity and UNDP & PCRWR fear that per capita freshwater availability will further decline to 860 cubic meters by 2025, and in accordance with Article 154 of the Constitution.

The CCI is responsible to formulate and regulate policies in relation to the matters enumerated in Part-II of Federal Legislative List (FLL) and to exercise supervision and control over related institutions. Article 155 extends the purview of the CCI to resolution of disputes among the federation and the federating units regarding their rights on water from any natural source. It further authorises the federal or provincial government concerned to make a complaint to the CCI in this regard.

The CCI can either decide or recommend to the president setting up of commission consisting of persons having knowledge and experience in irrigation, engineering, administration, finance and law.

The summary concluded that in view of the said facts, the CCI is requested to consider to stop the implementation process and construction of Greater Thal Canal (Phase-II)-Chaubara Branch Canal, construction project and CAD Phase-1 till the concurrence of stakeholders is achieved.