CDA plans to bring 200m gallon water from Tarbela Dam to twin cities

RAWALPINDI: In view of an acute water shortage persisting in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has planned a project to bring 200 million gallons of water per day from Tarbela Dam reservoir to the twin cities.

The total cost of the project is estimated Rs75 billion. Water apportionment equal to 200 mgd from the Indus River for the project has already been approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in the year 1996.

In this connection, ‘The News’ learnt reliably that the Member Planning and Design, CDA, Asad Mehboob Kiyani has forwarded a letter No. CDA/MP&D/2018 to Syed Hamid Ali, director general (China/CPEC), Board of Investment (BoI), Islamabad, requesting the BoI to consider for taking up the project in the ambit of CPEC on government-to-government basis for its expeditious execution.

The CDA feels that implementation of this project is of vital importance in order to avert the impending crisis of water prevailing in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, particularly this summer which may lead to a full-blown crisis in a matter of few years.

The copies of the letter has been sent to CDA chairman, Member Engineering, MCI chief officer and Director General of Rawalpindi Development Authority.

In the meantime, the WASA Managing Director, Raja Shaukat Mahmood, has fully backed the CDA official, Asad Mehboob Kiyani with regard to requesting Director General (China/CPEC), Board of Investment for including the project in CPEC on government to government basis. It is the hour of need to take such measures and implement them in order to avert the water crisis in future.

Besides this, without wasting further time, we have to start working on construction of small and big dams to store water in abundance. Otherwise, it is feared that the situation would go out of hand, he said.

Due to shortfall of rains and dry weather over the last few years the depth of underground water has fallen by 650 feet level because of which a number of tube wells have stopped functioning.