July 31, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1429

RAWALPINDI, July 30: Construction of about 25km-long outfall (trunk) sewer from Ammar Chowk in Chaklala to the sewage treatment plant near Adiala village is not expected to begin this year since work on the Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project (REIP) has slowed down during the last 18 months.

The estimated duration of the construction of trunk sewer is two years and it is expected that the City District Government Rawalpindi, the executing agency, will complete the bidding of the project by December 2008, following which actual work on the project would begin.

It may be mentioned here that the bidding for the project was scheduled to take place in January 2008. But due to absence of a competent authority, the bidding process could not take place.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB), which is providing financial support for the REIP project, has taken serious note of the delay in the design work of the treatment plant and outfall sewer.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has issued a notification to acquire land for the sewage treatment plant (STP) in Adiala and make payment for the land to the affected people.

The STP would be established over 5,000 kanals for which roughly Rs440 million would be required to pay to the affected persons.

Though the project is not expected to cause largescale relocation of affected people, it will affect the livelihood of an estimated 36 tenants and farmers in the areas of Adiala.

A press release issued by the REIP on Wednesday says payment to the affected persons would start in the first week of August, and land would be handed over to REIP project management unit in early September.

The project director of Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project, Syed Aslam Ali Sabzwari, who has recently been reappointed, told a project review meeting in Rawalpindi that the alignment of outfall sewer of the project was facing some difficulty as it was passing through the Defence Housing Authority and Bahria Town.

The meeting decided to resolve the issue in light of the decisions taken by the ADB mission report.

Mr Sabzwari asked contractors and consultants to expedite work on their respective contracts by deploying additional manpower and working round the clock.

An Asian Development Bank report on the project says the existing sewerage system in Rawalpindi city does not have a proper arrangement for treatment and disposal of sewage.

Untreated sewage was being discharged into Leh Nullah and its tributaries which ultimately fell into Soan River.

Establishment of a sewage treatment plant has been identified as a major component of this project.