Sanaullah Aman, Director General Water Management, Capital Development Authority (CDA) said the Small Dams Organisation had started acquiring land for construction and hiring of consultants was also in progress.
He said Cherah dam project was going to be jointly executed by Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and CDA, while Punjab Govt would be funding these agencies. He confirmed that Rs770 million, out of the estimated total cost of Rs5.3 billion, had already been released.
Upon completion, the dam will have a total capacity to store 15 million gallons of water which will be provided to Rawalpindi and Zone IV of the capital, equally. Aman said it was a five-year-long project and work on the first phase had begun. “The major aim behind constructing this dam is to overcome water shortfall in rural areas of the capital, currently needing eight million gallons,” he maintained.
Aman further said they were considering to set up tube wells in these areas to tackle the remaining shortfall of 0.5 million gallons.
Makeen Shehbaz, Director General RDA, said that in March 2008, the project was given go-ahead by Executive Committee of National Economic Council and was later sent to the Planning Commission for approval of its PC-I. The dam will be maintained and administered by the Water and Sanitation Agency and CDA.
Published in the Express Tribune, June 1st, 2010.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ