Abstract:
Water is very vital for domestic and agricultural use. Pakistan is an agricultural country. Pakistan has two large reservoirs i.e. Mangla and Tarbela dams whose capacity is decreasing due to sedimentation. Pakistan needs more reservoirs for the storage of water. Diamer Bhasha Dam (DBD) is a proposed project which was supposed to be completed in the year 2016. But due to various factors dam’s construction is delayed and cost has risen up with the passage of time. In current research key informant interviews were conducted with stakeholders to identify issues which are delaying the dam construction. Issues such as territory dispute between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB), compensation among communities, and role of institutions to resolve these issues were discussed in this research. SWOT analysis was also carried out to identify weakness, strengths, opportunities and threats. Major concerns of stakeholders were identified. Their concerns showed that compensation should have been given on time to the communities and mistrust of the communities should have been overcome. Although stakeholders have tried their level best to resolve issues which are hindering construction of dam. Results of the study concluded that anti-dam lobbies are creating problem than local communities. Stakeholders suggested that if construction of Diamer Bhasha Dam is delayed further then government should move to alternate options. At the end strategy to resolve this conflict is given in detail.
