RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has released Rs100 million to begin laying a water supply system to bring water from Chahan Dam and overcome the shortage of water in the city.

The government approved the Rs5.3 billion project to bring six million gallons daily (MGD) of water from Chahan Dam in December 2018. The Rs1.6bn dam is being constructed near Chakri on River Sill Kus, 22 kilometres from the garrison city.

A senior Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) official told Dawn that the provincial government allocated Rs400m to procure land for the project in the 2019-20 fiscal year, and the agency has received Rs100m in this regard.

He said the available funds will be spent on hiring a consultant to review the project. The consultant’s report will be sent to the Punjab planning and development department and the land procurement process will begin after it is approved.

A survey of the area has been completed and 125 kanals of land have been identified, he said. A filtration plant will be constructed at the site of the dam while a water reservoir for the city will be constructed in Girja.

The Wasa official said the project will be completed in three phases. After the land is procured, water supply lines will be laid and machinery installed to pump water to the main reservoir.

Rawalpindi city relies mainly on the Rawal and Khanpur dams for water, as well as on groundwater through 420 tubewells. The total extraction from all these sources is 45 MGD.

Wasa spokesperson Umer Farooq said the agency will soon establish a project management unit to begin working on the Chahan Dam water supply project. He said the consultant will finalise the report soon and send it to the provincial government, and land procurement will begin soon.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2019