February 08, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 19, 1428

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RAWALPINDI, Feb 7: The Planning Commission Wednesday rejected the PC-I of Ghazi Barotha Water Supply Scheme on the ground that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had overestimated the cost and provided flawed data on the project.

The authority gave a presentation to the commission on the PC-I of the project and sought its approval but the latter did not agree with the data and the figures estimated by the former.

The project aims to draw water from the Indus River to meet the water needs of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi, chairman Indus River System Authority (Irsa), Chairman CDA Kamran Lashari and officials from the civic agencies of Rawalpindi were also present on the occasion.

Sources privy to the meeting told this reporter that Member Infrastructure and Energy Planning Commission Dr Asad Ali Shah asked CDA to review all the segments of the project, as the cost and per capita water consumption mentioned in the PC-I was overestimated.

The sources said that the CDA had estimated the daily consumption of water in Islamabad to 55 gallons per capita which was equal to that in Singapore and asked the CDA to reduce the figure.

The CDA had estimated the daily requirement of water for the capital to 1,500 cusecs in the PC-I which was much higher than required by Rawalpindi, an equal stakeholder in the project.

The sources said the Planning Commission rejected the huge demand of water for Islamabad and asked the CDA to rationalize it. They said the commission also asked the CDA to reduce the capital cost of the project from the estimated Rs47 billion terming it a ‘lavish expenditure’.

Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Jatoi said that the project would be a joint venture of Rawalpindi and Islamabad and they would share water from the river on a 50:50 basis.