CHAKWAL: A water supply scheme for Chakwal city approved by former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif in Sept 2013 is yet to be conducted, leaving 65pc of the city without drinking water.

According to sources, a revised PC-I for the completion of the water supply scheme is still waiting for approval by the Punjab government.

“Chakwal city currently needs nine cusecs of water every day but is hardly getting five,” an official said.

The majority of the city’s residents either buy potable water or get bores in their homes. Many residents have gotten bores in the streets if their houses do not have space.

“The increasing number of water bores is depleting underground water at a rapid pace and the area is already faced with water scarcity,” an official of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) said.

65pc of the city does not have access to drinking water

Addressing a rally in Railway Ground in Chakwal city in May 2013, Shahbaz Sharif had promised to resolve the shortage of drinking water if elected into power.

He approved the water supply scheme in Sept 2013 on the request of then MNA Iffat Liaquat and her late husband Chaudhry Liaquat Ali Khan, who was an MPA at the time.

The project was administratively approved by the Punjab governor on March 2, 2014 and the detail cost estimate was technically sanctioned by the chief engineer (north) of PHED on April 16 the same year.

Work on the project commenced in May 2014 and was to be completed by Dec 2018 at the cost of Rs547.636 million.

Under the project, two cusecs of water was to be supplied from Khai Dam while four cusecs were to be provided from tubewells in the Bhoun and Khai villages.

However, fearing that the tubewell would deplete the underground water, residents of the villages went to the Lahore High Court which directed PHED Punjab to revise its plan.

After the court’s direction, the department decided to get four cusecs of water from the Dharabi Dam instead. However, because the dam is located farther away, the cost of the project increased to 1.18 billion.

However, due to the shortage of funds and lethargy of the previous government, PHED has so far only succeeded in supplying two cusecs from Khai Dam to Chakwal city but the promised four cusecs from Dharabi Dam are yet to be supplied.

“The city is suffering from water shortage. We can supply more than three cusecs of water to Chakwal city but the problem is that pipelines are yet to be laid down in 65pc of the city,” a PHED official said.

He added that a new cost estimate is yet to be prepared and that the price will likely have increased from Rs1.18 billion since as well.

Last year, PHED sent a revised estimate cost of Rs1.18 billion to the Planning and Development Department Punjab, which returned it and asked for a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Municipal Committee (MC), which is supposed to run the water supply scheme once completed.

“We have demanded an NOC from MC but we have not received a reply in the many weeks since,” PHED Executive Engineer Shafqat Ali told Dawn.

MC Chairman Sajjad Ahmed told Dawn that the committee needs additional funds to properly run and maintain the water supply scheme.

“We need motors and other machinery as well,” he said. An MC official said the committee needs Rs41 million annually to run and maintain the water supply scheme.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2019