RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government has given the green signal for the launch of a Rs3.6 billion project to improve water supply and sewerage system in the garrison city.
Work on the project is likely to start by the end of the current year.
Talking to Dawn, Water and sanitation Agency (Wasa) Managing Director Saleem Ashraf said that the Planning and Development Department had approved three schemes for the garrison city’s water supply and sewerage system.
He said Rs1.4 billion will be spent on the supply of water from Islamabad to areas along the Nur Khan Airbase from Koral Chowk to the old Airport Chowk.
The project will cover union councils 75, 76 and 77 (Fazal Town, Gulzar-i-Quaid, Dhoke Hafiz, Nazeerabad, Faisal Colony), union councils 77 and 78 (Shah Khalid Colony, Fazal Town, Butt Market) and union councils 80 to 82.
“Water will be supplied through tubewells to be installed in Islamabad. A total of 12 tubewells will be installed on the eastern side of Islamabad Expressway under the administrative control of the CDA. Water will then be supplied to these areas via a main supply line,” he said.
The CDA has granted a No-Objection Certificate (NoC) to Wasa for the installation of the tubewells.
He explained that the union councils were facing severe water shortage. According to a geological experts’ report, no groundwater was available in the nearby areas and the existing water supply system, which was based on tubewells installed 20 years ago along the Islamabad Expressway, currently serves only 30pc of the area.
“These tubewells have reached the end of their design life and now have very low discharge due to the extreme drawdown,” he said.
“There is a critical shortage of water in UC 75, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81 and 82, mainly due to the lack of a reliable water source. The situation will worsen if the water supply project is not launched on an urgent basis, which could lead to public unrest.”
Mr Ashraf said the second project was aimed to revive the old and rusty water supply network from Rawal and Khanpur dams. He said most of the water supply lines had outlived and there was a dire need to replace it.
A survey of old and rusty supply lines has already been completed and work on the project would start soon so that the consumers would get water without any hurdle in the coming summer season.
He said more than Rs1 billion would be spent on laying sewerage lines in the areas of the garrison city which had no facility before. He said that the sewerage lines will be connected to Leh Nullah. Over 60pc of areas in the garrison city are without proper sewerage system, he added.
Apart from this, he said, the agency was working to further improve the water and sanitation fee collection system. In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, Wasa recovered more than Rs1 billion. This will help launch small water supply schemes in the garrison city, he added.
Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2025
