RAWALPINDI: After getting a no-objection certificate (noc) from the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR), the Small Dam Organisation (SDO) has sought Rs48 million from the Punjab government for the feasibility study of the proposed Daducha Dam on Soan River.

In 2001, the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and the SDO had proposed the construction of the dam but the project could not be initiated.

In 2006, the DHA purchased the 18,000 kanals of land on which the dam was to be built.

Later, the DHA established a housing scheme on the land in collaboration with Bahria Town. In 2011, the Supreme Court directed the provincial government to start work on the dam at its original site.

Following the directive, the Punjab government asked the city government Rawalpindi to cancel the sale deeds of the 18,000 kanals. In July 2012, the district administration froze all development activities in the area.

However, the DHA authorities contacted the Punjab government to construct the dam on the upstream instead of the proposed site. The plea was, however, turned down.

In December, the planning commission asked the SDO to start the feasibility study of the dam with the direction to the city government to issue the NOC for the acquisition of the land.

“The CDGR sought Rs2 billion from the Punjab government for the purchase of the land. However, the government allocated Rs48 million and asked the CDGR to complete the feasibility and then purchase the land,” an official in the local revenue department told Dawn.

He said after the feasibility study, work on the dam would be started next year.

When contacted, SDO superintending engineer Mirza Zafar Hussain told Dawn that the provincial government had allocated Rs48 million for the feasibility study and SDO had requested the government to release the funds. “Soon after receiving the funds, we would start the work,” he said.

The Daducha Dam project has been planned to provide 25 million gallon daily (MGD) water to the city and cantonment areas for the next 50 years.

At present, Rawalpindi gets 16 MGD water from the Rawal and Khanpur dams and 22 MGD from over 300 tubewells against its total need of 50 MGD.

The water supply from the Khanpur Dam is not enough to fulfil the requirements of the cantonment areas and city’s nine union councils.

Sources said a water crisis was feared to hit the city in the coming days if small dams were not built in three or four years. They said the city’s water demand would shoot up to 79 MGD in the next 20 years while the underground water level was receding rapidly.