RAWALPINDI: Punjab government has given approval to Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) to launch a project worth Rs200 million. Under the project, sewerage lines would be laid on the eastern side of Murree Road from Shamsabad to Khana Road near Naz Cinema.

A senior Wasa official told Dawn on Wednesday that the agency will lay sewerage pipelines in four union councils in NA-56 constituency from next month.

He said the project aims at finishing the incomplete work from the Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project (REIP) worth Rs5 billion. The project funded by Asian Development Bank was started in 2006 but ended in 2009 because 30 per cent of the work could not be completed in four years.

“The project was also halted because a major component of it was laying sewerage lines for treating sewage from Leh Nullah. The project was linked with Leh Nullah Expressway,” he said.

The official said the PML-N-led government had cancelled Leh Nullah Expressway project, so the REIP was also stopped due to slow pace of work.

He explained that now Wasa had suggested to the provincial government to connect the main sewerage line laid in 2009 with the lines from the streets and utilise it. He said under the project, 78,231 people would be provided better sanitation facilities.

Only 35 per cent of the area in Rawalpindi has a proper sewerage system. Areas like Satellite Town, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Mohanpura and Saidpur got sewerage systems back in 1970 while areas in and around Raja Bazaar got the facility as late as the 1980s. These old lines have become rusty and are unable to carry waste water.

According to the Asian Development Bank estimates, Rawalpindi produces about 141,000 cubic metres of sewage, which is likely to grow to 272,000 cubic metres by 2025.

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood said the project was part of the annual development programme of the Punjab government and work on it would be carried out in three phases and completed by the end of next year.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014