RAWALPINDI: With the announcement by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) that the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project (KDWSP) will not be completed next year, Pindiites should expect to deal with shortages until 2018.

The announcement was made by the RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Fahim Zafar Khan at a press conference regarding the annual budget on Tuesday.

“For the completion of the KDWSP, Rs290 million was required. The project is funded by the federal government and it allocated only Rs131 million for the current fiscal year 2015-16 and the remaining amount will be available next year,” he said.

He added that once additional funding becomes available, the project is expected to be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2016-17.

The official said that the project would reduce the shortage of water in the cantonment areas. In the meantime, he said, the civic body will be taking measures to improve management of water supply in cantonment areas and rationing would end once the project is completed.

Responding to a query about the absence of elected representatives during the announcement of the annual budget of the civic body, the senior official of RCB said that the budget had been made before the members were sworn in.

“But the elected members were consulted when allocations were being made for various development projects and the RCB would ensure that tax payers’ money is spent on least developed parts of the city,” he said.

The official rejected the notion that the RCB spent all its money on developing the pedestrian street in Saddar while neglecting other areas.

In Saddar, Bank Road from Kashmir Road to Hospital Road was closed to vehicular traffic and declared a pedestrian street. However, soon after the decision was made, vehicles owned by shopkeepers were seen on the road. The RCB later took back its decision to facilitate the shopkeepers and opened one side of the road to traffic.

While providing details of the annual budget, Mr Khan said that the total outlay of the budget for 2015-16 was Rs2.72 billion and Rs880 million would be spent on development schemes and the remaining amount of Rs1.8 billion would be spent on expenditures.

“Rs224.017 million had been allocated for building department, Rs92.844 million for roads and streets, Rs46.432 million for drainage, Rs158.382 million for water supply and Rs29.213 million for miscellaneous,” he said.

He said that the RCB planned to construct a new block for Cantonment offices, commercial plazas at Bank Road, Adamjee Road, renovations of the 100-year-old covered market and Rex Cinema.

He said that RCB would purchase land for a graveyard, a landfill site and a slaughter house. He said that funds had been allocated and search for sites within cantonment areas had begun.

“The RCB will purchase vehicles including a tower wagon worth Rs7 million, a well-equipped ambulance for Rs6 million, four trucks for garbage and 10 mini-trucks for garbage collection in the narrower streets,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2015

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