World Bank appointed expert, Professor Raymond Lafitte, has ruled that India's construction of the Baglihar dam on the river Chenab does not violate the Indus water treaty, but has asked India to reduce the height of the dam by 1.5m.
Professor Lafitte’s report on the project, presented to Indian and Pakistan ambassadors today, overrules other technical objections to the dam raised by Pakistan, who believed the dam would adversely affect the flow of water from the Chenab into the country.
Lafitte – a Swiss national, civil engineer and professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne – was appointed by the World Bank in May 2005 under the terms of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, to render a decision on a ‘difference’ between the two governments regarding the Baglihar project.
According to the provisions of the Treaty, the decision of Professor Lafitte on all matters within his competence is final and binding.
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