RAWALPINDI, March 28: The Punjab government has approved the construction of Cherrah Dam at a cost of Rs3.5 billion to overcome the water scarcity in Rawalpindi city, Dawn learnt on Wednesday.

It will be built on Sowan river near Cherrah village, about 12 kilometres downstream the Simly dam, and will supply 15 million gallons of water daily (MGD) to the growing city.

The Cherrah dam was proposed by Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and Small Dams Organisation (SDO) in 2001 but work on the project could not start as some private housing schemes had encroached the land of the dam.

Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has finally approved the cost and design of the dam and ensured proper compensation to the people the dam would displace.

A Karachi-based consultant who prepared the feasibility and PC-I of the project last year had to revise the cost estimates because the provincial government sought the compensation to land owners to be reduced.

The dam would cover about 950 acres. The people whose land has been acquired would be given Rs90,000 per kanal as compensation.

The dam would be completed in two years.

The dam would be the second perennial surface water source for Rawalpindi after Rawal Dam which was constructed in 1963 and has outlived its designed life.

Managing Director Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Lt-Col (retired) Islamul Haq told Dawn that the new dam would not only recharge the groundwater sources but also cope with the water scarcity in Rawalpindi.

“The dam would reduce our dependence on Capital Development Authority for water and save us money. We pay a huge amount for the water from Khanpur dam,” he said.

Meanwhile, the bigger Daducha Dam project continues to hang fire as the resourceful Defence Housing Authority and Bahria Town land developers are insisting on building the dam on their own.

Daducha Dam is designed to supply 25MGD of water to Rawalpindi city and Cantonment areas for the next 50 years.

There is no ground water potential in Rawalpindi city itself and the only solution for meeting its water needs is to construct storage dams and not digging tubewells.

Sources in Wasa said that 70 per cent of the existing tubewells were drawing contaminated water due to excessive withdrawal of water from ground. Construction of dams could recharge the underground water source.