ISLAMABAD: The revenue department of the district administration will acquire land for the proposed Shahdara Dam of the CDA, as the city managers said they were moving forward to launch the project.

The dam will be established in the Shahdara area, which will supply 10 million gallon daily water to Islamabad.

Presiding over a meeting, CDA Chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa directed concerned authorities to take steps for early start of the project.

“Briefing Chairman CDA on water management projects, the relevant officers informed that WAPDA has completed the feasibility study process for the Shahdara Dam project, which has been shared with CDA. The meeting was told that feasibility report has prepared initial estimates for land acquisition, water conveyance, water treatment plant and other aspects,” read a press release.

It said the dam will have the capacity to store water on 25 acres and supply 10 million gallons of water per day to the citizens of Islamabad. Work on the design will commence soon and subsequently PC-1 will be placed before CDA’s Development Working Party (DWP) for approval, it added.

The CDA chairman directed that a survey should be conducted by Suparco prior to the acquisition of land for the dam. He said all matters related to land acquisition should be resolved transparently and in accordance with legal requirements. Mr Randhawa said that the feasibility report and detailed design should be presented to the committee established for resolving the water issues of the twin cities for approval.

Furthermore, the Dotara Dam project was also discussed in the meeting. During a briefing, the meeting was informed that work on the feasibility report for the Dotara Dam project was ongoing. The dam will be set up upstream of Khanpur Dam with a capacity of 72 mgd for twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Sources said the federal and Punjab governments will share funding for the project.

The sources said after finalisation of the design, the actual cost of the Shahdara Dam project will be determined. However, they said, billions of rupees will be required for the project, including land acquisition.

The federal government wanted to get completed these two projects by December 2027. The sources said if started in the next few months, Shahdara Dam, which is smaller than the proposed Dotara Dam, could be completed in the stipulated deadline of December next year.

It is relevant to note here that the growing shortage of water in Islamabad has become a matter of concerns. Currently, the CDA supplies around 70mgd against the actual need of 220 mgd from three main sources - Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam and tubewells.

During the last around three decades, no new source of water was explored.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026