Opinion (Spotlight Weekly)

Study Of Kosi Dams And Waterways

By Dr. AB Thapa

It has been reported in one of the local newspapers that Nepal has very recently given its consent for establishing the Indo-Nepal Joint Office at Kathmandu and other three places in Nepal to conduct feasibility studies of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project, Kosi Dam Project and Navigation Canal linking Chatra in Nepal with the Ganges that would provide our country a direct waterway access to the seaport. Unfortunately that news reporting is not completely correct. It is not true that Nepal and India had reached agreement to conduct the studies of all above three projects in course of the visit of the former Prime Minister G.P. Koirala to New Delhi 13 years ago. A joint communiqué issued at the end of the visit had made reference only to the Kosi Dam Project. Nobody in the Nepalese team visiting Delhi and even those in Nepal could have ever imagined that there is a direct link between the Kosi Dam Project and other two projects, viz. Sun-Kosi Dam Project and the Navigation Canal Project. The idea of Kosi canal waterway had not even been conceived. The Kosi Dam Study Agreement had aroused at that time a lot of controversy within the Water Resources Ministry. At that time political parties were agitating against the Tanakpur Agreement. Moreover, the Kosi dam issue was not easily comprehensible to the ordinary people. As a result, nobody paid attention to Kosi dam controversy. .

Salt And Oil Supply Would Be Shut Off

I raised the Kosi dam issue within the Water Resources Ministry to emphasize categorically that under no circumstances the Kosi Dam Project study should be allowed to be dissociated from the study of the above mentioned other two projects. My firm stand on the Kosi dam issue even angered many of my colleagues within the ministry. Some of them were charging me how dare I overrule the decision of the two prime ministers by obstructing to conduct the study of the Kosi Dam Project. Some of them were saying that I was acting foolishly to anger our southern neighbour. They considered that my suggestions were highly provocative and Nepal might be forced to face dire consequences. As a result, salt and oil supply to our country could be shut off.

Finally, my firm stand on the Kosi dam issue paid off. My concept to conduct simultaneously the studies of the Kosi Dam Project, the Sun-Kosi Dam Project and the Navigation Canal Study was at last endorsed with great reluctance. It was agreed to be made the agenda for the joint meeting of the representatives of the governments of Nepal and India Nobody in our government had truly believed that my concept of the proposed study would stand the slightest chance to be approved by both the countries. Despite such reservations of my colleagues in the ministry, I succeeded in convincing representatives of the Government of India to accept my concept in a bilateral negotiation held in Kathmandu in 1997. Many people in our Government and also in media were greatly astonished when they learnt that India has endorsed Nepalese proposal. Some of them were not ready even to believe that India would have accepted Nepal’s proposal for conducting the studies of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project and Kosi Canal Waterway and thus they did not hesitate to oppose the 1997 Indo-Nepal Accord on Kosi study. It took them quite a long time to be convinced that the 1997 Indo-Nepal Accord on Kosi Study was genuinely in the interest of Nepal. However, quite a few might still be in confusion about the significance of the proposed study. I had prepared on my own fairly extensive special reports on the Sun-Kosi Project, Kosi Dam Project and the Kosi Canal Waterway without spending a single dime of the government money. Those reports were prepared well ahead of the joint meeting to explain the new concept of the above described three projects. Those documents are in the WECS library.

Outcome of the 1997 Meeting

There was not much discussion about the scale of the Kosi High Dam Project in the 1997 Indo-Nepal Kosi Study Meeting. Nevertheless, both sides knew perfectly well that the Kosi High Dam Project is going to be one of the biggest in the whole world. The following three key issues were raised in the meeting. They were the Kosi flood control, Sun-Kosi Dam Project and Kosi navigation canal. India agreed to accept our proposal on all three issues.

Until the 1997 meeting to negotiate the Kosi Study Agreement the Indian Government was seen to be drifting away from the facts that it is absolutely indispensable to provide storage dams in the basin to prevent the Kosi flood disaster. The Indian Government was saying that the Kosi flood control problem has already been resolved after the completion of the construction of embankments on both sides of the Kosi River. . So right at the outset of the meeting held in Kathmandu to finalize the Kosi Study Agreement, I had to give a brief presentation on Kosi flood problems. The presentation was quite helpful in explaining our viewpoint on Kosi development. Later on in course of discussions the leader of the Indian team expressed off the record that from now on they are fully convinced of the fact that the biggest benefit to accrue from the Kosi development would be the flood control

The study to construct the Kosi High Dam is now firmly tied up with the provision of a 165 km long navigation canal out of it a 120 km long section of such navigation canal would be in Indian territory. The proposed navigation canal would be linking Nepal with the seaport through Ganges, Bhagirathi and Hoogly rivers

It has been almost explicitly agreed that the commencement of the construction of the Kosi High Dam would be contingent upon the prior implementation of the Sun-Kosi High Dam Project on technical grounds. The Sun-Kosi High Dam Project, regarded to be benefiting almost exclusively Nepal, prominently figured in the talks to finalize the 1997 Kosi Study Agreement. Indian side had wanted somehow to exclude the Sun-Kosi Dam Project from the Kosi development study. They did not want to get bogged down into the relatively big Sun-Kosi Dam Project Ultimately the Indian side was convinced that it is no more possible to sideline the prior implementation of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project despite the fact that it would be a project to serve almost exclusively Nepal. They were clearly explained that the Kosi Dam Project and the Sun-Kosi Dam Project would be mutually exclusive if the Kosi High Project is implemented first. They fully realized the fact that the construction of the Kosi dam would be further delayed if the construction of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project is not completed in time. As a result, the Indian side even agreed to provide financial assistance to carry out expeditiously the detailed study of the Sun-Kosi Dam Project also.

A Panel of Experts

The river Kosi is bigger than the Karnali in terms of the total annual water flow, annual volume of the sediments being carried into the Terai from the mountains and other drainage areas. Thus, if it is presumed on the above grounds that the total storage volume of the Kosi reservoir by comparison with the Karnali reservoir should at least be equal, the total volume of the Kosi storage reservoir would have to be 39 billion cu. m. Needless to explain that the new dam height should be further raised to increase the storage volume of the reservoir. It would be well over 269 m which is the height proposed in the 1980 Indian report. If the Kosi dam height is raised from 269 m to 300 m, the total storage volume would still be only about 19 billion cu. m. Perhaps the dam height should be in between 335 m and 350 m if the total storage volume of the Kosi reservoir is to be about 39 billion cu. m. At present the highest dam in the world is the 335 m high Ragun dam in the former Soviet Union. This dam is still under construction though it was expected to be completed many years before.

The Kosi Dam is expected to be the highest in the whole world. Planning as well as the implementation of the dam of this scale is going to be a very big challenge. Similarly the planning of 165 km long economically viable navigation canal would be a brilliant feat of engineering. Even the countries like France had some time back sought help from Germany to improve the condition of their navigable waterways. Thus there is an urgent need to constitute a panel of few renowned foreign experts at the very early stage to guide periodically our technical team participating in the joint study.

There is also an urgent need to involve various academic institutions, like Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University, RONAST, and various research organizations in the conduct of the feasibility studies. It would certainly help to enhance the capability of those institutions. Apart from it, truly dedicated and able persons working in those institutions could contribute a lot in resolving various difficult technical as well as socio-economic problems cropping up in course of the feasibility studies. We should also develop our habit to share our problems with leading research institutions actively engaged in the field of water resources such as the Grenoble in France, Wallingford in UK, DELFT in Netherlands, Roorke in India etc. It is highly important that regular meetings be held to develop public awareness of how the whole project is going to be implemented.

(Dr. Thapa writes on water resources)