U.S. Water News Online
MAHAKALI RIVER, Nepal -- A year after anti-large dam activists in Nepal celebrated the cancellation of the 201-megawatt Arun III Dam, they are now faced with a fight to stop a much larger 6,480-megawatt dam, the proposed Pancheshwar Dam, which, at 315 meters, would be the world's highest.
In February 1996, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and India signed a draft treaty committing the two countries to build this dam, as well as two smaller dams on the Mahakali River in the far west of Nepal.
The Mahakali Integrated Development Treaty divides between India and Nepal the water and electricity to be provided by the dams and the estimated $12 billion cost of building them. The dams are to be built within 10 years.
The Nepal-based International Institute for Human Rights, Environment and Development (INHURED) has warned Nepalese politicians they will launch an international campaign against Pancheshwar.
Among INHURED's concerns are several issues: the fact that there has not yet been a study of the possibilities for smaller projects, the fact that the report on the Pancheshwar project has not yet been made publicly available, the fact that no environmental and social impact studies have yet been conducted, and that no resettlement plan has been drawn up.
Furthermore, say critics of the project, all the concerns voiced over the Arun Dam would be magnified with the construction of Pancheshwar -- especially the concern that construction of this dam would close off opportunities for Nepal to build small and medium-sized dams, constructed by indigenous companies and better suited to serve the long-term needs of dispersed rural communities.
The recent visit of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robin Raphel to Kathmandu is thought, by many, to be linked to U.S. support for the treaty. Raphel was quoted in a Nepal government daily saying that the Mihakali Treaty is important because it opens the market for power sales "which will be key to international financing in hydropower in Nepal."
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