RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) will be starting the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project Phase III next month and the federal government has promised to release Rs190 million for the project in a week or two.

Worth Rs700 million, the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project Phase III was started in 2010 but work was not completed due to shortage of funds. Work on the project was stopped in 2015.

The cost of the project increased to Rs800 million in that time.

The project was sent to the planning commission by the Ministry of Defence due to pressure from PML-N MNAs in order to end the shortage of water in the cantonment areas.

MNA Malik Abrar told Dawn the issue was highlighte d in the National A ssembly and the matter was referred to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence where members recommended that the federal government restart the project.

He said the federal government had asked the ministry of defence to send its revised project concept-I (PC-1) and that the ministry had prepared a revised PC-1 so the remaining work could be completed.

He said Federal Minister for PlanningAhsan Iqbal had assured that the funds will be released.

The MNA said there was a shortage of water in the cantonment areas, most of which relied on water from Khanpur Dam.

He said the supply of water will increase after the completion of the project.

Mr Abrar said work on the project will be started the next month and that the federal government had asked the RCB to complete the work by Dec 2017 as it had already been delayed.

On the other hand, a senior RCB official told Dawn that there were three reasons for the delay in the completion of the project.

`The first is slow funding from the federal government in the last seven years, the second is the tussle between Pakistan Railways and the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board over water supply lines which cross over rail tracks and the third was that no land was vacated for the construction of water tanl(s,` he said.

After the completion of the project, the supply of water from Khanpur Dam will be increased from 9 million gallons daily (mgd) to 19mgd and will help end the water shortage.

Ten overhead and underground water reservoirs will also be constructed under the project in Afshan Colony, Burfkhana Chowk, Allama Iqbal Colony, Tipu Road, Adiala Road, Nasirabad, Jhanda Chichi, Dhoke Syedan and Adra.