ISLAMABAD: The federal government transferred the administrative control of all water-related departments from the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) to the Capital Development Authority on Wednesday after the CDA complained that it was unable to address the shortfall of millions of gallons under the current arrangement.

The CDA has been authorised to set up a fully fledged water management wing to meet the rising demand in the federal capital and its vicinity.

An official of the water wing told Dawn the federal capital would now have a fully fledged organisation, modelled on Rawalpindi’s Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), to manage its water supply and related matters. It will have its own budget and enjoy autonomy for collecting water charges and fines.

The interior ministry has notified the transfer of several departments from MCI after approval by the federal cabinet.

Interior ministry notifies transfer of several departments after cabinet approval

“Consequent upon approval of the federal cabinet, the federal government is pleased to assign water-related functions like supply, sewerage, drainage and waste water management on cost recovery basis to Capital Development Authority in terms of section 94(2) and section 134 (2) of the Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Act, 2015, for establishment of Islamabad Water,” a notification said.

According to a summary prepared by the ministry of interior, three dams are the major sources of water supply to Islamabad _ Simly, Khanpur and Rawal (partially as CDA gets only two million gallons per day from this dam).

“The water management wing caters for 76,273 connections and 33,109 ground water bores in urban areas of Islamabad. The wing has a strength of 1550 workers while 930 positions are vacant in various grades. The CDA handles all pay, pension and HR matters of the wing.

“The total water demand for urban areas is 120mgd while the peak supply is 80mgd.”

Gap between supply & demand

The summary further said the Water Management Wing is unable to meet a shortfall of 40mgd in urban areas and cannot extend its services to the 1.3 million people living in villages around Islamabad.

“The gap in supply and demand for clean water is increasing day by day due to positive change in urban population and climate condition. There is no integrated planning and management, no water and sewerage infrastructure master plan is available and no water and sewerage business plan has ever been prepared.

“All these issues are causing poor service delivery,” read the summary.

It further stated that corrective measures were needed urgently to meet the rising demand for water in the federal capital. There is a dire need to unify all functions relating to water and waste management under one umbrella by giving the authority concerned sufficient autonomy vis-à-vis generation of funds and expenditure.

“Accordingly, the functions of water supply, sewerage and drainage, waste water management and its connected revenue, finance and enforcement matters are required to be unified under one wing established within CDA, which may be named as `Islamabad Water’.

The summary stated: “For the said purpose, the following directorates, which are currently operating under MCI, need to be placed under the proposed water management wing of the CDA.”

It said the directorates of water supply, bulk water management and sewage treatment plants, revenue division, finance division and human resources division would be placed under the CDA’s administrative control.

Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2024