The technical committee of Capital Development Authority (CDA) has approved Rs 47 billion water supply project for the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi from Ghazi Barotha.
Sources in the Authority told Business Recorder on Tuesday that a private consultant company, MOTT-Pakistan, has prepared the revised PC-1 of the project which has been recently approved by the CDA technical committee and it would soon be sent to Interior Ministry and Planning Commission for final approval.
Previously, the project was designed only to meet the water requirement of Islamabad, costing Rs 30 billion, but it had to be revised to include Rawalpindi.
The government would lay a separate water supply line for Rawalpindi from Ghazi-Barotha along with a 65 km long supply line to the federal capital.
However, according to sources, the Authority still has not removed the concerns of different quarters, including Sindh, NWFP, and mainly the Indus Water System Authority (Irsa), which say that the provinces are already running short of water to meet the irrigation requirements and its further distribution would aggravate the situation.
They said that through the proposed project, at least 500 mgd water would be supplied to the twin cities per day, which would affect the irrigation system in the provinces. A senior official in the CDA said that the Authority had prepared the revised PC-1 for the combined project to be presented in the next meeting of CDA Development Working Party.
It is also learnt that the revised PC-1 would also be sent to Irsa and other concerned authorities for comments. The present water requirement of the federal capital is over 108 mgd, against the available supply of 60 mgd. Sources said that the new project would meet the requirements of the twin cities during the next 50 years.
After inclusion of Rawalpindi in the water project, total project cost would be increased from Rs 30 billion to over Rs 47 billion, and it would be met through Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), they added.
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