CDA sticks to Ghazi-Barotha water project
By Kashif Abbasi
2015-08-22
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is still lool
Currently, the CDA is providing 70 million gallon of water per day to the residents of Islamabad whose actual demand stands at 120 million gallon per day. The city managers are providing water to the capital from three sources: Khanpur, Simly dams and tubewells.
`We are facing a shortfall of around 50 million gallon per day and managing it by rationing of water,` said Member Engineering Shahid Sohail, adding the Ghazi Barotha water project was the only viable option to overcome the growing shortfall.
`The World Bank (WB) had showed an interest in giving us a loan for this project. Two months ago, we sent a request to the Economic Affairs Division to take up the matter with the WB but so far no progress has been made on the case,` he said.
Under the Rs37 billion project, which was announced by the CDA in 2005, the civic agency plans to bring 200 million gallon water per day (100 for Rawalpindi and 100 for Islamabad) from Ghazi Barotha dam on the Indus River. However, besides the funding issue,Sindhis also opposed to the project.
`At the last Council of Common Interest (CCI) meeting, in which the matter was taken up, Punjab, KP and Balochistan agreed to give their share of water for the project but Sindh showed its reservations,` said Shahid Sohail. He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif then asked Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to convince Sindh but so far no development has been made.
`The project is almost an ultimate solution to overcome the demand and supply of water as we have no other viable solution,` the member engi-neering said.
Meanwhile, another official said instead of wasting time on the GhaziBarotha project, the city managers should go for alternative projects such as the installation of tubewells and construction of small dams. The official said the under-construction Chirah dam would provide 15 million gallon of water to the twin cities.
Small dams on Margalla Hills There was a proposal to construct small dams on the foothills of the Margalla hills to preserve rainwater.
Instead of focusing on the GhaziBarotha project, we should go for small dams and change the decades-old water supply lines, said another official.
Outdated water supply network The CDA has been planning to replace the underground water distribution network for the last one decade. However, so far, this plan could not come out of the files.
In 2012, the CDA requested the federal government for the provision of Rs8 billion for the project but the then government turned down the request, directing the authority to utilise its own resources for the project.
Similarly, the CDA also approached the Economic Affairs Division to get a foreign loan for the project. However, despite agreeing to the proposal, the division did nothing.
`Most of the supply lines are outdated that result in the wastage of around 40 per cent of water. By replacing them, we can decrease the shortfall to some extent,` said a senior official of the water directorate who requested not be named. He said the sewerage and water supply lines were laid about five decades ago which needed replacement now.
The member engineering said replacing the sewerage and water supply lines was a part of the GhaziBarotha water project. `I`m still hopeful that the project will be launched after which we will change all the old supply lines,` he said.
