Businessmen urge IMC, CDA to devise short-term solution to cope with water crisis

Urge civic bodies to increase the number of tankers, repair tube wells

ISLAMABAD: As is the story every winter, the water supply in the capital drops as soon as it gets chilly.

The story has repeated itself this year, prompting members of the business community to evince their concerns.

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sheikh Amir Waheed on Monday urged the city’s administrators to take urgent measures to resolve the chronic issue of water shortage, noting that it was causing residents of many sectors and the local business community immense problems.

Waheed said water crisis in the federal capital has been worsening for years with the water levels in the Simly and Khanpur dams decreasing every day. Noting that it was taking a toll on the growth of business and industrial activities in the city, he said that there was an urgent need to resolve this critical issue.

The population of the capital has more than doubled over the past 20 years and it has registered a corresponding rise in water requirements of the city. However, supply has remained stagnant at around 54 to 55 million gallons per day (MDG), creating a shortage.

The Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) plans to shore up the water supply to the capital from the Ghazi Barotha dam. However, Waheed noted that this requires laying pipes for around 50 kilometres and it is a project which will take years to complete since the cash-strapped IMC has to first acquire land from the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments. He urged the IMC to work out a short-term solution to cope with fast worsening water crisis in the capital and to provide some relief to the residents.

ICCI Senior Vice President Muhammad Naveed, and Vice President Nisar Mirza suggested that a number of tube wells, which the city government had set up all over the capital, were out of order. Moreover, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had limited water being supplied by tankers.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 5^th, 2017.