Basic Facts about the

Kishenganga Dam Project

The Kishenganga River and Gurez Valley

The proposed dam will be built on the Kishenganga River, also called the "Neelum River". The River (J&K map showing Kishenganga River) originates and flows through a valley situated in the central area of Jammu & Kashmir, now transected by the "Line-of-Control" that divides the Pakistan and India-administered parts of J&K. The Kishenganga Valley is separated from the wide Kashmir Valley by the north Kashmir mountain range which runs west from Zoji La Pass. The Kishenganga catchment in the north is delimited by the Great Himalayan range as some of its tributaries flow down the slopes of Nanga Parbat (8,126 meters). Rising in the mountain complex to the west of Dras and to the south of the Deosai plateau, the Kishenganga receives the waters of a number of tiny tributaries, including a stream flowing from Koubal. At Shardi, it makes a sharp bend proceeding southwest until finally merging with the Jhelum River at Muzafarabad. The Kishenganga has a narrow and elongated basin the width in many places being only twenty kilometers.

The Gurez Dam Project

The Kishenganga Group of Contractors has been formed to build a 330 megawatt hydro-electric project estimated to cost $500 million. The Kishenganga Group of Contractors consists of a Swedish consortium, Skanska International, and domestic companies companies, including Power Development Corporation. The project is to construct a 103 meter high dam on the Kishenganga River in the Gurez Valley, which will inundate the entire valley, destroying its entire ecology and driving out the more than 25,000 Dard Shin people, a unique and virtually unstudied culture, from their ancient homeland. The project plans to dam the Kishenganga in the Gurez Valley creating a large reservoir from which a channel and a 27 km tunnel dug south through the North Kashmir mountain range, will re-direct the Kishenganga waters to the Wular Lake at Bandipur, where a hydro-electric project will be built at the Wular barrage. The total distance by which the the river will be diverted is 100 km.

Environmental Concerns

Because of the remoteness of the Kishenganga valley, the environment has been relatively protected compared to other areas of J&K. Its forests and meadows are home to a wide range of wildlife, including the endangered snow leopard, hangul deer, barking deer, musk deer, black bear, markhor, ibex, marmot, and other species. Also, an old growth forest lies in the Gurez valley in a addition to many exotic and unstudied species of plants and flowers. The dam project threatens to wipe out the entire valley by inundating it. The ecology of the hillsides, high alpine meadows, and forests above the Gurez valley will also be adversely affected since the mean temperature will drop significantly as a result of the large water reservoir created by the dam. The large reservoir that will be created by the construction of a 103 meter dam in the center of the Kashmir Himalayan range, a mountain range known for and created by earthquakes and tectonic movements, also might introduce an increased seismicity in Jammu & Kashmir. Substantial data links large dams and an increased probability of large-scale earthquakes.

In addition to destroying the entire Gurez Valley, such a project would reduce the Kishenganga River below the dam to a mere trickle which will negatively impact the environment of the lush green valley all the way to Muzafarabad. In particular, the environment of the Neelum Valley of Pakistan-administered J&K will be badly effected. Also, the diversion of the Kishenganga River would increase the level of the Wular Lake, disrupting its delicate ecology and forcing the displacement of the additional local inhabitants of its shores.

The Kishenganga dam project threatens to eliminate large known habitat areas for a number of endangered species and to destroy an entire valley with its forests and meadows. Needless to say, the dam project is a major  threat to Jammu & Kashmir's environment.

International Funding

The Kishenganga Dam Project is being carried out mainly with international funding. The building contractors, such as Skanska International of Sweden, will arrange 85% of the costs of the project from international financial institutions at between 5% - 6% interest rates which are much lower than prevailing in the domestic debt markets. The debt will be repaid over a 12-year period. The financially-starved state government will meet the balance of 15% from its internal resources. Therefore, this $500 million project is only possible with international funding.

As per K.E.W.A.'s current information, a development bank in Sweden and the IMF are the expected sources of the funding. More specific information will be forthcoming soon.

Status of the Project

     The inhabitants of Gurez Valley were never consulted before the Indian government entered into a deal with the Swedish consortium Skanska International and a number of other Indian contractors. But the project is in its very early stages. This came as a shock to the Dard Shin people who are terrified that they might not be able to save their homeland and their unique culture that is intrinsically tied to that land.

        Construction has not begun yet. Some survey work is continuing while the inhabitants of the Gurez Valley have already been issued eviction notices effective this summer.

        The Dard Shin locals have been given two options: 1) leave on your own or 2) leave through a government plan which will transport the people to concrete housing projects in an urban setting far-removed from their traditional way of life in the lush and isolated Gurez Valley. The Gurez Valley is so isolated in the Himalyan Kashmir wilderness that only a jeep track, open two months out of the year when the snows melt, connects it with the outside world. The remoteness of the Gurez Valley is what makes it a perfect habitat for the endangered species and other wildlife which inhabit it. Currently, the modern world is moving in closer to Gurez Valley with a vegeance. Construction will probably begin this summer on the first road ever built to the Gurez Valley; built for the sole purpose of making the dam project possible. Instead of bringing nature-lovers, anthropologists, and trekkers to the Gurez Valley, this road will bring modern heavy equipment which will be used solely to destroy the Gurez Valley and Kishenganga River forever.

Eviction of Dard Shin

The first displacement, 961 families according to Indian government figures and 1200 families according to the inhabitants of Gurez, is expected to take place this summer. In all this amounts to a displacement of 10,000 people to begin with the 7 villages that have already been issued notices: Badwan, Wampora, Khundeyal, Fakirpora, Dawar (the ancient and present capital of Gurez), Mastan Khopri, and Markot. In some cases government land acquisition notices are mainly for the cultivatable land of the villages, essentially leaving no means of subsistence for the villagers thereby forcing them to leave or starve.

25 villages, 6 summer high altitude habitats for shepherds, and 8 camping sites will be consumed by the the dam construction project. By the end of the project approximately 25,000 Dard Shin people will be forced to flee the Gurez Valley.

The status of the project is very much in its early stages, and there is still time to prevent this envoronmental and cultural disaster.

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