ISLAMABAD, Nov 14: The much talked about multi-billion Clean Drinking Water for All (CDWA) project seems heading nowhere after its shifting from the environment ministry to the ministry of industries and efforts are being made to get it back, Dawn has learnt.

Noticing the slow pace of work on the project, the prime minister a couple of months ago had directed the ministry of industries to take over the implementation of the project. However, sources told Dawn that the environment ministry was still vying to get the project back.

The project came to standstill with the change of portfolios in the federal cabinet on April 25 this year. The then federal minister for environment Maj (retd) Tahir Iqbal and minister for Kashmir affairs Faisal Saleh Hayat swapped their portfolios.

According to the PC-I of the project, the provinces through local governments were to set up water filter plants at union council level, but the new minister wanted more control over the project which had resulted in its delay, the sources said.

Subsequently, during a presentation made to President Gen Pervez Musharraf, he expressed disappointment over the execution of the project and asked the prime minister to speed up the work.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz directed the ministry of industries and special initiatives to take over the project.

When contacted, CDWA Project Director Brig Sikander Javed said the project was still in the process of switching over to the industries ministry and would soon be made operational again.

But sources at the environment ministry said that the environment minister had requested the prime minister to return the project to his ministry.

The CEDW envisages installation of around 6,035 water purification plants of different capacities (500/1,000/2,000 gallons per hour), one in each union council of the country according to the needs of its population. The project has been included in the Mid-Term Development Framework 2,005-10 with an allocation of over Rs7 billion.

With the recent developments, the government is unlikely to meet the target of completing the project by December 2,007, the sources said.