ISLAMABAD: The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will provide technical support to the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in three water and sewage projects.

“An agreement in this regard was signed between the CDA and IFC at the CDA Headquarters, which was attended by Interior Secretary Mohammad Khurram Agha, CDA Chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa, Member Planning and Design Dr Khalid Hafiz, Regional Director IFC and other senior officers from CDA’s Islamabad Water and IFC,” a press release said.

Under the agreement, the IFC will provide technical assistance to the Islamabad Water Agency for various projects under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). According to a press release issued by the CDA, the IFC will provide its transaction advisory services for three water and sewage-related projects in Islamabad.

“Transaction advisory services, for completing these Islamabad water projects under a PPP, are being procured in accordance with relevant rules. The completion of these projects will help resolve issues related to water and sewerage system in the federal capital, Islamabad,” the press release said.

According to the CDA, key components of these projects include improving the supply of clean water, installing water meters and reducing non-revenue water in Islamabad. Similarly, measures to make water pumps energy-efficient and to repair and rehabilitate sewage lines, including sewage treatment plants, are also part of these projects.

The CDA says completion of these projects will lead to a significant increase in the civic body’s revenue, which will be spent on improving water supply in Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, the CDA chairman said completing these projects under PPP will help improve the monitoring system and control water wastage. He said modern technology would be utilised for monitoring all installations and water pumps of Islamabad Water which would improve water supply.

He said all resources would be utilised to provide citizens of the federal capital with the best facilities for clean water and sewerage systems. The meeting also reiterated the commitment to fully leverage the technical expertise, experience and capacity of the International Finance Corporation.

According to CDA, prior principle approval for execution of these projects under PPP has already been obtained from the CDA Board and the Public-Private Partnership Board.

Commenting on this development, an official said the project related to improving supply of clean water installing water meters was a positive step, however, there was need to pay full focus to improve water supply by exploring new water resources. He said no new source of water was explored after Khanpur Dam – back in 1990s, while the population of Islamabad has been facing rapid growth.

Currently, the water need of Islamabad is over 250 million gallons per day while CDA is supplying around 70mgd from its all three sources – Simly and Khanpur dams as well as tubewells.

However, the other day, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, while inaugurating Allama Iqbal Flyover at T Chowk, had announced that water scarcity issue of Islamabad would be addressed.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2025