Water supply from Tarbela to twin cities: Asad for completing project at the earliest

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired a review meeting on Bulk Water Supply Project from Tarbela to Islamabad and Rawalpindi here on Wednesday.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on CDA Ali Nawaz Awan, Pak Army Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen Moazzam Ejaz, DG FWO Major General Kamal Azfar, Chairman CDA, CEO Public-Private Partnership Authority and senior officials attended the meeting.

It was informed in the meeting that the supply of clean drinking water from the Tarbela Dam to Islamabad and Rawalpindi would be made possible through a 44-km pipeline. The twin cities currently have a daily water demand of 440 million gallons; whereas the present water supply from all sources is 220 million gallons. The project will initially provide an additional 200 million gallons of water to the citizens of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which will be gradually increased to 650 million gallons. It was informed that the project would be completed on the public-private partnership mode, but the cost of acquiring the land would be borne by the federal government and the Punjab government on a 50:50 sharing basis.

To complete the project on a faster track, the services of the FWO engineer-in-chief and the Pakistan Army ENC will be obtained. In addition, the meeting gave two and a half years to complete the project so that the water problem of the twin cities is addressed. Asad Omar said the twin cities have always been facing problems of clean drinking water and with the completion of this project, Islamabad will not face water shortage for the next 25 to 30 years. The minister directed CDA authorities to start work on the project as soon as possible and complete it on time.