RAWALPINDI: Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department Parliamentary Secretary Sultan Bajwa visited Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), and the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA).

During his visit to Wasa, the secretary said that the process of cleaning drains should be completed before the monsoon so that any kind of flood situation could be dealt with during the rains. He said preparations for the monsoon season should be completed `on an emergency basis` and that obstacles in the flow of water in drains across the city should be removed.

Wasa Managing Director Muhammad Saleem Ashraf, while giving a briefing, said that Wasa was tryingto provide basicfacilities,like clean drinking water and sewage infrastructure, to the citizens of Rawalpindi.

He said several steps were being taken to strengthen the Wasa`s role. He said that special attention was being paid to increasing Wasa`s financial resources and the noose around its defaulters was being tightened, adding that Wasa had so far recovered Rs2 billion.

Speaking about the water situation, the MD said that the water requirements had increased with the onset of summer. He said the agency was supplying water from three sources, including Rawal Dam and Khanpur Dam, besides tube wells. These sources supply 51 million gallons per day (mgd) of water to the city, while the demand was 70mgd.

He said in order to meet this shortage, Wasa was working on mega projects, including DREAMS, under which 12 million gallons of water would be obtained from Chahan Dam, an additional five million gallons from Rawal Dam, and eight million gallons per day of water would be obtained from Khanpur Dam. Similarly, Daduchha Dam, on which the construction work is in full swing, would be able to provide 35 million gallons of water per day.

He said that Wasa has completed 80 per cent of the cleaning of sewer lines, like every year, while the remaining work will be completed before May 15.

The repair work of the machinery used for drainage from low-lying areas during the rains has been done and funds have been sought from the Punjab government for cleaning of at least fifteen drains in the city, he said, adding that as soon as the funds were released, the cleaning process would start.

Mr Bajwa also visited the Rawalpindi Development Authority, where he was welcomed by RDA Additional Director General Awais Manzoor Tarar.

During the visit, he inspected the Business Facilitation Centre (BFC), praising it as a significant and progressive initiative for public service delivery.

Mr Tarar briefed the parliamentary secretary on BFC`s one-window operation, which facilitated citizens with services such as file submissions, property transfers, and approvals for estate and residential projects.

With its advanced IT infrastructure, the BFC enables citizens to track and process their files online and obtain necessary approvals and no-objection certificates (NOCs) without visiting the office.