RAWALPINDI: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has informed the federal capital that it will not be able to meet the deadline of March 31 for the completion of the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project Phase-III if it did not release funds by Jan 15.

A senior official of the RCB told Dawn the federal government had fixed March 31 as the deadline for the completion of the project but was yet to release the required Rs58 million worth of funds.

He said the cost of the project had escalated and that a revised PC-1 had been sent to the Planning Commission which asked the RCB to complete the project by the end of March.

However, he said, the finance ministry had not yet released money for the start of the project.

“We wrote a letter to the federal government through our parent organisation, the Ministry of Defence, saying that the RCB will be unable to meet the deadline without being given the required funds,” he said.

Work on the project for bringing water from the Khanpur Dam to Rawalpindi and Chaklala Cantonment areas started in 2011 but is yet to be completed.

The project has already faced delays due to unavailability of land

“There are three reasons for the slow work on the project. A no-objection certificate is required from Pakistan Railways for crossing the railway track, the non-availability of land for the construction of water tanks and slow funding from the federal government,” a senior official said.

He said RCB had contacted Pakistan Railways in order to get permission to cross the water supply line over the railway track at three points.

He said the Pakistan Railways had asked for payment and put the condition that the work of crossing the track be conducted by a railway engineer.

“The RCB did not have money to pay the Pakistan Railways but it agreed that their engineer can supervise the work,” he said.

The officer said negotiations are being held with the railways over the matter and that it may be solved in a week.

As soon as the RCB gets money, it will obtain an NoC from the Pakistan Railways, he added.

The RCB is yet to start construction work on overhead and underground water tanks at Ahmedabad, Aliabad and Westridge while seven overhead and underground water tanks have already been constructed.

He said the water supply lines had also been laid in most of the cantonment areas a year ago and that the remaining areas will be covered once lines are laid over the railway tracks.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2017