RAWALPINDI, March 29: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has refused to include the much-awaited two small dam projects in the forthcoming Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project (REIP), Dawn has learnt.
Officials said the Small Dams Organization (SDO) and the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) had requested the bank to fund the Daducha and Chirah dam projects to meet water shortage in the city. However, the ADB did not accept the demand even for one of the proposed dams.
Nespak had also proposed to the bank to fund at least one of the two proposed dams during its technical survey prior to the implementation of the REIP.
It may be recalled that the bank had provided 91 per cent of the total Rs4 billion spent on the recently completed urban water and sanitation project (UWSSP). However, all the amount was spent on Nullah Leh's expansion, laying of some water pipelines and construction of drainage systems.
"The bank only funds those projects which it deems fit for achieving their goals. All our experts' proposals were again sidelined by ADB's mission. After all, what could we do as we have to accept the terms and conditions of the ADB loan," said an official privy to the project.
The ADB loan for both the UWSSP and REIP would cross $138 million. But if the spending of such huge loan fails even to ensure supply of clean drinking water, then there is no need for taking more loans for the so-called development projects, the official added.
Experts have also warned Wasa of acute water shortage in near future if it failed to create new sources, because Khanpur Dam and Rawal Lake were not yielding the required supply. Similarly, watertable in the city has dropped considerably during the last decade, leading to the drying up of many tubewells and low productivity of others.
Officials said Daducha Dam was proposed to be constructed on River Ling near Daducha village. The project also included the establishment of water reservoirs and a treatment plant with the capacity of treating 25 million gallon water daily (MGD).
They said the irrigation and power department (IPD) in collaboration with the SDO had submitted the PC-1 of the project to the Punjab government for approval in November 2002.
The government had appealed to the Japanese government for financial assistance. The demand was not accepted after which the ADB remained the sole hope for the funding.
The SDO and IPD had estimated the cost of the project at Rs4 billion - Rs555 million for the construction of the dam and Rs3,500 million for establishment of a treatment plant, a gravity main and a pumping station.
The dam's site is located some 25km south-east of Rawalpindi and about 2km away from Daducha village. The height of the dam had been proposed 23 feet. It has a catchment area of 33,489 km and a storage capacity of 73,000 acre feet.
