February 07, 2008	Thursday	Muharram 28, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: In another effort to overcome the persisting water shortage in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the authorities concerned have planned to establish a new reservoir upstream Khanpur Dam, it was learnt on Wednesday.

“The PC-II of a carryover dam (for storage purpose) has been prepared,” an official of Capital Development Authority (CDA) said.

He said the ministry of water and power had given the go-ahead for the project named Dotara Dam and had ordered the department concerned to prepare a report on the project aimed to avert water scarcity in future.

Sources said the plan had been prepared after hopes for a Rs47 billion Ghazi Barotha Water Supply Project faded due to reservations shown by the water authorities. This project was also planned for the twin cities.

The official said Wapda had prepared the PC-II of the project and would send it to the ministry within a week. The project would take 18 months for completion once it is approved by the ministry as well as the Planning Commission.

He hoped that work on the project could be initiated within three to four months once a green signal was given by the Planning Commission.

He said the dam would have two times more storage capacity than Khanpur Dam which stores more or less 100,000 acres feet of water while the rest is wasted through the spillways.

The official said in every third monsoon season, about 250,000 acres feet of water is wasted through the spillways of the Khanpur Dam.

The dam would be constructed about 25km upstream of Khanpur Dam. In the beginning, Khanpur Dam had the capacity of 107,000 acres feet that has been reduced to about 90,000 acres feet of water.

The CDA official termed the project highly economical and suitable. The infrastructure would be duly linked with all the stakeholders including Rawalpindi Cantonment Board, Chaklala Cantonment Board, Capital Development Authority and the Rawalpindi Development Authority.

The construction of Dotara Dam would also help reduce the seepage of water downstream besides increasing the life of Khanpur Dam owing to far lesser silting in it against the design calculations.

The carryover dam will also help mitigate floods, as both the dams would have the capacity to store over 250,000 acres feet of water.