‘Sukkur Barrage restoration to cost Rs25 billion’

Karachi
Rehabilitation of damaged Sukkur barrage would cost the government around Rs25 billion while its reconstruction would cost about four times more, Rs100 billion, and may take up to 10 to 12 years.
The regulation of water by the Sukkur barrage contributes to around 30 percent to the national GDP and 80 percent of the agriculture in the province depended on its water flow.
This was stated by the secretary agriculture Zaheer Hyder Shah while briefing the chief minister Qaim Ali Shah on the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Sukkur barrage at the CM House on Monday.
He said the permanent closure of 10 gates had formed an island and a submerged weir which had reduced the capacity of the barrage from 1.5 million to 900,000 cusecs.
The irrigation secretary said a decline in the flow and problems in regulation of river water by the Sukkur barrage would result in a drop of eight million cusecs of irrigation water, causing the provincial GDP to reduce by 25 percent.
He said failure of the working of the barrage could cause 25 percent reduction in Sindh’s GDP, bringing revenues down to Rs5,113 million from Rs7,308 million. Moreover, problems in regulation of water from the barrage would also bring down the national GDP by five percent, affecting 26.4 million people in the Sindh.
The meeting was also attended by Sindh chief secretary Siddique Memon and officials of the finance department.
The irrigation secretary said Sukkur barrage was constructed over Indus River between 1923 and 1932. All its gates were replaced between 1986 and 1992 and emergency repairs were carried out in 2004 when a large scour hole developed in the right pocket of the barrage.
Replying to a query of the chief minister about the findings of the feasibility study, the irrigation secretary said all the gates of the barrage were in good condition except the five which needed to be replaced. He said he pond level and freeboard below the gates also needed some alteration to help open the gates to their maximum capacity.
He said the electric system of the barrage also needed to be replaced for which a modern monitoring and control room was also required.
The secretary said the floodwaters of 20120 had passed through the Sukkur barrage with a freeboard margin of just two feet when the gates were opened completely. He said during high floods, only 27 of the 66 barrage gates remained active, resulting in risky flow concentration in the central-left part of the barrage.
The secretary said 10 gates of the barrage had been closed permanently between 1938 and 1946 which resulted in the formation of an island. He said the large curvature of the existing outer bank casted a shadow to 17 more barrage gates and affected flow of water while the limited capacity for flood access in the left and right pockets restricted 12 more gates, thus preventing flow of floodwater to the full capacity of the barrage.
Answering another question of the chief minister, irrigation secretary Zaheer Hyder Shah said rehabilitation of the barrage included repair of canal head regulators, right pocket river training, fish and overflow weir in span 59, dredging, electrical system repair, enhancing and modernising the monitoring and control instruments, construction of new buildings for monitoring, besides laboratory and workshops would cost around Rs25 billion.