Barrages and headworks in Pakistan. 16 major barrages.

 

Barrages and headworks in Pakistan.

Pakistan is an agricultural country. It has the world’s largest irrigation system, which is called the Indus Basin Irrigation System.

Mainly in Pakistan, the flood method of irrigation is used that requires a considerable quantity of water. For these purposes, barrages are essential in this country. There are 16 large barrage in Pakistan.

1) Sukkur Barrage.

The Sukkur Barrage, formerly known as Lloyd Barrage, is located near the city of Sukkur in Sindh. The British Raj built it from 1923 to 1932. It is the largest irrigation network of its kind globally and irrigates nearly all parts of the province.

The barrage stretches from Sukkur district in the north to Mirpurkhas/Tharparkar and Hyderabad districts in the south. It is around 500 kilometres (300 miles) northeast of Karachi. The barrage is located 5 kilometres (3 miles) below the railway bridge, known as the Sukkur Gorge. It has significantly improved the water supply for existing cultivated areas in Sindh.

2) Guddu Barrage,

Guddu Barrage is located in the Kashmore district of Sindh. It is also constructed on the Indus River. This barrage was completed in 1962.

Furthermore, the Guddu barrage provides water supplies to vast areas of Sindh and Balochistan for irrigation and drinking purposes. It is also used to control floods.

Moreover, this barrage supplies water to 2.9 million acres of land. It feeds four canals, namely Ghotki feeder, Rainee feeder, Begari, and Phat feeders.

This barrage has 64 gates that 18 feet long. It has a span of 1400 meters. The discharge capacity of this barrage is 1.2 million cusecs.

3) Kotri Barrage

Kotri Barrage is situated in Jamshoro district near Hyderabad. It is also called Ghulam Muhammad Barrage. This barrage is built on the Indus River.

Moreover, the construction of the Kotri barrage was completed in 1955. It has a discharge capacity of 8,75000 cubic feet per second.

Furthermore, the Kotri barrage is 1,600 meters long and has 44 gates. Each gate of this barrage is 18 feet wide. This is a gate-controlled barrage with a navigation lock, and its design is weir type. This barrage feeds three canals: Fuleli Canal, Pinyari Canal, and Kalri Baghar Canal. Thus, it irrigates almost the whole of lower Sindh.

4) Jinnah Barrage

The Jinnah Barrage is located near Kalabagh. It is part of the Thal Project. The project helps irrigate an area of 770,000 hectares (1,900,000 acres). This area is in the Sindh Sagar Doab, located to the east of the Indus River. The planning for the barrage dates back to the 19th century. However, the final plans were made in 1919, and construction took place from 1939 to 1946.

The Jinnah Barrage diverts an average of 283 cubic metres per second (10,000 cubic feet per second) of water into the 51.5 km (32.0 miles)-long Thal Canal, which serves areas in Bhakkar, Khushab, Layyah, Mianwali, and Muzaffargarh Districts.

The canal has an additional 3,362 km (2,089 miles) of canal branches and distributors. The barrage spans 1,152 metres (3,780 feet) over the river and has a maximum flood height of 8.5 metres (28 feet). It can discharge up to 27,000 cubic metres per second (950,000 cubic feet per second) downstream with 42 spillway gates, each of which is 18.2 metres (60 feet) wide.

A hydroelectric power station with a capacity of 96 MW was constructed on the right bank. It consists of four 12 MW pit turbine generators. The construction took place between 2006 and 2012. In June 2012, a rehabilitation project for the barrage began.

As part of this project, a downstream weir measuring 244 meters (801 feet) is being built. The purpose of the weir is to dissipate energy from the upstream spillway. Additionally, new guide banks will be constructed, existing ones will be repaired, and the upstream railway bridge will be rehabilitated.

5) Chashma Dam

Chashma Barrage is also located in Mianwali district of Punjab. Its construction work began in 1967 and was completed in 1971.

In addition, the Chashma Barrage is built on the Indus River. It is located about 56 kilometers downstream from the Jinnah Barrage.

In addition, this dam has a span of 1,084 meters. It has 52 gates and each gate is 18.2 meters wide. Therefore, the discharge capacity of this dam is greater than that of Jinnah Dam. Further, Chashma Barrage has an overflow capacity of 8,70,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs). It supplies water to CJ-Link Canal and Chashma Right Bank Canal.

6) Taunsa Barrage

Taunsa Barrage is located in Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab. This dam is also built on the river Indus.

Moreover, this dam was built between 1952 and 1958. The Taunsa Dam is 1325 meters long and feeds three canals.

In addition, it is a vital dam on the Indus River. About 6 million farmers irrigate their fields from this dam.

7) Trim Barrage

Trimmu Barrage is a structure on the Chenab River located in the Jhang District of Punjab, downstream from where the Jhelum River meets the Chenab River. It is located about 25 km from Jhang town and near Atharan Hazari town. It was built as one of the seven connecting canals under the Indus Water Scheme in Pakistan.

The primary purpose of Trimmu Barrage is to control the flow of water in the River Chenab for flood control and irrigation purposes. It was originally built by English engineers between 1937 and 1939. It was primarily built as a flood control mechanism to protect the city of Jhang.

The dam has undergone several upgrades over the years, including the construction of new gates and the maintenance of previous ones. The bridge section of the arched grille is integrated with several protective belts. LTV traffic was allowed during certain hours, while HTV traffic was completely banned until the causeway was completed on 30 June 2020. Currently, traffic is open for both HTV and LTV. The headwaters were reconstructed and new bridges were built on the river.

8) Rasool Barrage:

Rasol Barrage is located on the Jehlum River, between the Jhelum and Mandi Bahauddin districts of Punjab. It is located 72 km downstream from Mangla Dam.

The present Rasul barrage was constructed in 1968 and the old barrage built by the British was dismantled. The Sargodha Zone of Punjab is responsible for the operation of the dam, which is used to control the flow of water in the Jhelum River for irrigation and flood control purposes.

Rasul Barrage has a discharge capacity of 24,070 cubic meters per second. Water from the barrage is diverted to the Chenab River at Qadirabad through the Rasul-Qadirabad Link Canal and finally transferred to the Sulemanki Barrage on the Sutlej River. The Rasul-Qadirabad Link Canal has the second largest water discharge capacity after the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal.

The Rasul-Qadirabad link canal has a discharge capacity of 538 m³/s. The Chashma-Jhelum link canal has a higher capacity of 615 m³/s. The Lower Jhelum Canal starts at Rasul Barrage and has a discharge capacity of 5280 cusecs. It provides irrigation for Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha areas. The canal covers a cultivable command area of ​​1.45 million acres.

9) Sulemanki Headworks

Sulemanki Headworks is located in Okara district of Punjab province. It is built on the river Sutlej in Depalpur Tehsil of Okara.

Moreover, this building was built between 1922 and 1927 by the Nawab of Bahawalpur. It supplies water for the purpose of irrigation of the adjacent area.

In addition, the main hydraulic structure in this region is Sulemanki. Millions of livers of this region depend on this head.

10) Marala Headworks

Marala Headworks is located in Sialkot district of Punjab. It is built on the river Chenab. This dam was first built in 1912.

In addition, a new barrage named Marala Barrage was constructed in 1968. It supplies water to adjacent areas for irrigation purposes.

Moreover, the discharge capacity of this dam is 1,100,000 cusecs. It feeds two major canals namely Marala Ravi Link Canal and Upper Chenab Canal.

11) Khanki Headworks

Khanki Headworks is located in Gujranwala district of Punjab. This barrage is also built on river Chenab.

Moreover, the construction work on this barrage was completed in 1889. Hence, it is one of the oldest barrages in Pakistan.

In addition, the discharge capacity of Khanki Headworks is 800,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs). It is used to control flood water and supply water for irrigation purposes.

12-Ghazi-Barotha firing

Ghazi-Barotha Dam, located in Punjab and linked to the Indus River, is a 1,450 MW run-of-river hydroelectric project located about 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Attock and east of Swabi and Haripur districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was built in 1995 and consists of five generators, each capable of producing a maximum power generation capacity of 290 MW.

On 19 August 2003, former President General Pervez Musharraf inaugurated the plant and the first two of its five generators, Unit 1 and Unit 2. The project was completed in December 2004, with the last generator commissioned on 6 April 2004.

The project received funding from various sources, including the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan (WAPDA), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, the European Investment Bank and the Islamic Development Bank, with a total cost of $2.1 billion.

A total of 1,600 cubic meters per second of water is diverted from the Indus River near Ghazi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is approximately 7 km downstream of Tarbela Dam. The diverted water then flows through a concrete power channel that is 100 meters wide and 9 meters deep and stretches for 52 km to the village of Barotha, where the power complex is located.

For a distance of 63 km between Ghazi and Barotha, the Indus River has a gradient of 76 meters. Once it has passed through the power plant, the water is released back into the Indus River. In addition to these primary structures, there are also 225 km of transmission lines.

The dam is located 7 km downstream from Tarbela Dam and has a pond that regulates the daily discharge from Tarbela. It diverts the flow to the power channel and adds compensating water during periods of low flow.

13) Balloki Headworks

Balloki Headworks is a barrage on the river Ravi. It is located in the Nankana Sahib district of the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Moreover, this major structure was first completed in 1915 by the British government. It was part of the "Triple Canals Project".

In addition, the Balloki Headworks irrigates a large area in the adjoining districts. Many rehabilitation programs have been carried out on this major work.

14) Sidhnai Headworks

Sidhnai Headworks is built on the river Ravi. It is located in the Khanewal district of the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Moreover, this head is located 15 kilometers from the confluence of the Ravi River with the Chenab River. It is used to control the flow of the river and to provide water for irrigation purposes.

The following table provides details of all dams in Pakistan, including the river it is built on, year of completion and length.

Barrage River Year completed Length

Chashma Barrage Indus 1971 1,084 m (3,556 ft)

Ghazi Brotha Barrage Indus 2004 51.90 km

Jinnah Barrage Indus 1946 1,152 m (3,780 ft)

Rasul Barrage Jhelum 1968 975 m (3,201 ft)

Taunsa Barrage Indus 1958 1,325 m (4,346 ft)

Trimmu Barrage Chenab 1939 922 m (3,025 ft)

Guddu Barrage Indus 1962 1355 m (4446 ft)

Kotri Barrage Indus 1955 1,600 m (5,200 ft)

Sukkur Barrage Indus 1932 About 2 km (1 mi)

15) Qadirabad Headworks

Qadirabad Headworks is located in Mandi Bahauddin district of Punjab. It is built on the river Ravi to control the flow of water.

In addition, this main structure supplies water to a large area for irrigation purposes. Therefore, it is one of the most important heads of Pakistan.

16) Panjnad Headworks

Panjnad Headworks is located in Bahawalpur district of Punjab. In this main building, all the five rivers of Punjab join and enter the Indus River.

Besides, this major structure feeds three canals namely Panjnad Canal, Abbassia Canal and Abbasia Link Canal. In 2020, a semi-automatic gate was installed on this front.

Conclusion

Dams are an integral part of agricultural land as all water is controlled through these dams. Here we have checked all the dams in the provinces of Pakistan like Sindh, Punjab etc.