RAWALPINDI: The Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) is facing budgetary constraints to acquire land for setting up a water filtration plant and related structures that will ensure water supply from Chahan Dam to the garrison city.
On the other hand, the agency has started work on establishing the Project Management Unit (PMU) for laying a water supply line that will bring six million gallons of water daily (MGD) from Chahan Dam to the garrison city.
The PMU is necessary to execute and monitor the project.
The agency has sought applications to appoint the project director and other officials, however, it will not start land acquisition at the moment due to slow pace of funding by the Punjab government for the project. Meanwhile, experts were of the view that the project will not start in the current year.
Amount released by Punjab insufficient to commence work, official says
Chahan Dam is almost complete but work has still not been initiated to bring 6 MGD of water.
The provincial government released Rs800 million for the establishment of the PMU but failed to release funds for land acquisition. It had approved the project worth Rs5.3 billion in December 2018.
Chahan Dam, which is situated near Chakri, is being constructed by the Punjab government on Sill Kus River and is 22km away from the garrison city.
A senior Wasa official told Dawn that the provincial government had released Rs250 million in the fiscal year 2020 and Rs200 million in 2021 but it was insufficient for commencing work.
He said 150 kanals would be acquired for which Rs650 million was needed, adding that land acquisition would likely start in the next fiscal year.
He said according to the plan, intake chamber would be built at Chahan, filtration plant in Chakri and a pumping station in Ranyal. He said 80 kanals would be required for the filtration plant and 35 kanals each in Ranyal and Chakri.
He said the union councils which would benefit from the water supply from Chahan Dam are Dhamial, Chakra, Girja, Chak Jalaldin 1 and 2, Dhama Syedan, Kilial and Lakhan.
The official said the cost of the project was expected to increase from Rs6 billion to Rs8 billion as the construction cost had risen and the rates of all government projects had increased by 25pc.
He said the revised PC-I would be submitted to the planning and development department for final approval, adding that the agency had completed its homework in this regard.
According to official figures, the current water demand of the city having a population of about 1.5 million was 50 MGD. The city relies mainly on Rawal and Khanpur dams in addition to groundwater drawn from 440 tubewells.
The total extraction from these sources is 37 MGD (21 from tubewells and 16 MGD from the dams).
When contacted, Wasa spokesman Umer Farooq said the agency had prepared the project to bring water from Chahan Dam to overcome shortage in the union councils of the defunct Potohar Town.
He said after the establishment of the PMU, work would start and be completed at the earliest.
Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2022