Gwadar: The Balochistan Develop-ment Authority (BDA) has denied that it is running and operating the desalination plant in Gwadar at a time when the water level in the Ankara Kaur Dam reservoir has dropped, causing a shortage of water in the port town.

Sources said the water stored in the dam fell to the dead level because the region had not received any rain for some time.

“The government reviewed a grant of Rs15 million to provide water to Gwadar and suburbs from different sources, including the desalination plant to make seawater fit for consumption,” said an official. He added that the BDA had denied operating the desalination plant.

It is said that the dam can provide water to the areas for only three months and if the region did not receive any rain the reservoir will dry up. BDA officials claim that the desalination plant could provide two million gallons of water a day at a cost of 40 paisas per gallon. But they said that because of some technical faults, the plant was lying idle. It would be made operational after the faults were fixed, they added.

PIPELINE STOLEN: A water pipeline worth Rs2m has been stolen from the public health engineering department in Gwadar. Official sources confirmed the theft and said that the department had laid the 2,000 foot underground water pipeline from Santsar to Gwadar at a cost of Rs2m to supply water.

They said the theft might cause a water shortage in the port town and adjoining areas.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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