The World Bank (WB) decision announced yesterday to ‘pause’ dam arbitration is a big setback to Pakistan, more so as the Bank projected its decision as an effort to protect the Indus Water Treaty (IWT).
There is no secret that India is constructing two hydropower projects on the Chenab River. Pakistan has raised objections to both projects – the 850MegaWatt Ratle and 330MW Kishanganga. Its contention is that these projects would have adverse impact on the flow of the Chenab and Neelum rivers.
Pakistan wants an arbitration tribunal to examine the Indian plans as provided for under the IWT. It is towards that end, Islamabad has asked the World Bank, which had facilitated the treaty years ago, to appoint the chairman of the Court of Arbitration.
India has opposed the Pakistani proposal. Sticking to its guns that both Ratle and Kishanganga do not violate the IWT provisions, Delhi told the Bank to remit the Pakistan complaint to a neutral expert. India’s case is that it is not utilising the full quantum of waters allocated to it under the IWT and that the new hydel projects in no way reduce the water flow since no storage facility is provided under the two schemes. These are what are known as run-of-the – river ventures.
Pakistan upped the ante in the aftermath of rising cross-border tensions following the Uri army base attack and Indian ‘surgical strike’. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November has declared India’s intention to fully utilise the IWT water allocation.
The World Bank now appears to have seen merit in Delhi’s stand vis-à-vis Islamabad’s case for arbitration. It also veered round the view that both process – examination by neutral expert and arbitration proceedings cannot go on simultaneously.
This is clear from the WB statement which says: “Both processes initiated by the respective countries were advancing at the same time, creating a risk of contradictory outcomes that could potentially endanger the Treaty”.
“Pausing the process for now, the Bank would hold off from appointing the Chairman for the Court of Arbitration or the Neutral Expert – appointments that had been expected on December 12 as earlier communicated by the Bank,” the WB statement said.
Ratle project is coming up downstream of the Ratle village  in Doda district. It includes a 133 m (436 ft) tall gravity dam and two power stations adjacent to one another. Water from the dam will be diverted through four intake tunnels about 400 m (0.25 mi) southwest to the power stations. The main power station will contain four 205 MW turbines and the auxiliary power station will contain one 30 MW turbine. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the dam on June 25, 2013. The completion date is February 2018.if Pakistan does not throw any more spanners into the work.
Kishanganga is already behind schedule thanks to Pakistan which had dragged India to arbitration once. The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration had rejected in Feb 2013 after hearing the case for close to two years the Pakistani contention that India cannot divert the waters for power generation.
Located in the Jhelum River basin, about 5 km north of Bandipore, Kishanganga is designed to produce 330 MW of electricity. The project involves transfer of water of Kishanganga River in Gurez valley to Bonar nallah near Bandipore in Kashmir valley.
As World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said, the ‘pause’ is an opportunity for the two countries to begin to resolve the issue in an amicable manner and in line with the spirit of the treaty rather than pursuing concurrent processes that could make the treaty unworkable over time.
“I would hope that the two countries will come to an agreement by the end of January [2017]”, he said.
The WB has since sent letters to the finance ministers of Pakistan and India to apprise them of the decision taken to “safeguard the Treaty”. The bank is a signatory to the treaty.
The IWT is one of the most successful international treaties and has withstood frequent tensions between India and Pakistan, including conflicts.
The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers, known as the Permanent Indus Commission which includes a commissioner from each of the two countries.
It also sets out a process for resolving so-called “questions”, “differences” and “disputes” that may arise between the parties.
–by malladi rama rao