US support for Pakistan dam could help stem flow of bad blood

Washington weighs up backing huge Daimer Bhasha project as a means of improving battered relations with Pakistan The US is considering financial support for a $12bn dam in Pakistan in an attempt to improve its battered image in the country. The Daimer Bhasha dam would provide enough electricity to end Pakistan’s crippling shortages. It is said its reservoir would hold so much water it could have averted last year’s devastating floods. Washington has not yet made a final decision on partial funding of the dam, but US money would be crucial in securing other international finance, especially from the Asian Development Bank. “Getting involved in a long-term project like this is very compelling for us,” said a senior US official. “This is the project we’re spending our time assessing. “This would demonstrate that Pakistan is the kind of country where you can do large, complex infrastructure projects. It’s not all flood relief and sacks of flour.” At the end of last week, President Asif Ali Zardari met a team from the Asian Development Bank “to start the process of financing Daimer Bhasha dam as the project has been approved at all internal fora of the country”, according to a statement from his office. Although Washington is Pakistan’s biggest international donor by far, the support has done little to improve perceptions of the US, which is seen as the enemy by many Pakistanis – a view exacerbated by continuing drone attacks in tribal areas and the killing of Osama bin Laden earlier this year. The dam, which harks back to similar projects supported by Washington in the 1960s and 1970s, could help reset relations between the two countries. India is likely to object to US support for the dam, as it is located in the disputed Kashmir region. Opposition may also come from critics in the US Congress, who have called for all aid to be cut off after Bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan. The dam, on the Indus river, would provide 4,500MW of cheap, green energy, making up for a shortfall causing up to 12 hours of power cuts a day across Pakistan. The reservoir would be 50 miles long. Shakil Durrani, chairman of the water and power development authority, said Islamabad had approved the dam project and he was confident of US backing. “If we had a reservoir the size of Daimer Bhasha the floods last summer would not have occurred,” he said. “This would be the largest project ever undertaken in Pakistan. It is our top priority.” Analyst Mosharraf Zaidi agreed the

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