Minister briefed on water supply project for twin cities

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired a review meeting on water supply project to Islamabad- Rawalpindi from Khanpur Dam in Islamabad on Wednesday. Special Assistant to PM on CDA Ali Nawaz Awan, and senior officials of CDA, RCB, Wapda and Ministry of Planning participated in the meeting.

The meeting was briefed on the progress of various initiatives aimed at addressing the issues of supply of water to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Representatives of MCI informed that water supply to various sectors of Islamabad had been considerably improved through a number of maintenance/rehabilitation activities, which had been pending for quite some time due to shortage of resources.

­SAPM on CDA apprised the minister of the efforts being made to enhance the supply of water to the twin cities from Khanpur Dam. He said that work was in progress on signing an interdepartmental agreement, which would facilitate the regular maintenance of the water channel which runs through territory of two provinces and the ICT.

The minister directed CDA to take the lead and draft a detailed progress covering all aspects of rehabilitation as well as long term operation and maintenance of the water supply system. Representatives of CDA informed the meeting that hiring of consultants for water supply from Ghazi Barotha was at an advanced stage. The meeting directed that the process be completed as per the timeline.