May 24, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 07, 1428

RAWALPINDI, May 23: Authorities have decreed that no major development project would be undertaken in the city until the Rs16 billion Leh (Shiekh Rashid) Expressway project is completed.

Sources privy to the recent discussions on the Mid-Term Development Framework (MTDF) told Dawn on Wednesday that the provincial government has shelved plans to build the Rs4 billion Daducha Dam meant to relieve water shortage in Rawalpindi.

The foundation stone of the expressway was laid by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and named it after Federal Minister for Railways Shiekh Rashid Ahmed at a public rally in Liaquat Bagh last month.

They said the Finance Department conveyed to the district administration that it could not fund any other development project after allocating Rs8 billion for the expressway.

A similar amount is to be provided by the federal government for the expressway project.

The Daducha Dam was proposed by Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and the Small Dams Organisation (SDO) in 2000 for meeting water scarcity in the Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas.

District Coordination Officer Irfan Elahi declined to state the reasons for abandoning the Daducha Dam project but claimed that Cherrah Dam would be constructed soon.

Other sources, however, said that the district administration had been directed to stop any work on Daducha Dam as it was not possible for the provincial government to fund two mega projects in Rawalpindi at the same time.

Earlier it was reported that a private housing society had encroached the land of the reservoir of the Daducha Dam in the name of building the dam itself. The provincial government’s refusal to fund the dam would strengthen the hands of the housing society to execute its plans.

A Karachi-based consultant had prepared feasibility report and PC-I of the project that was revised several times due to technical flaws before submitting it to the Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi for approval.

The reservoir was supposed to be built on Sowan River having a capacity to supply 25 million gallons water per day (MGD) to Rawalpindi city.

Currently, Rawal Dam is supplying 20MGD to the city which has outlived its 50-year life.

According to environmentalists, water table in Potohar region is rapidly depleting due to excessive withdrawal of ground water.

Sources in Wasa and SDO said they were waiting for the final approval of the dam but the provincial authorities threw water on the project by refusing to allocate fund for the scheme.

No doubt, Expressway is a landmark project but one cannot undermine the importance of water which is also the basic need of every citizen.

The residents of Rawalpindi have been facing shortage of water.