Quetta, Gwadar start getting clean water after a decade

Kalmati says provincial government utilising all resources to address water crisis

QUETTA: After suffering from the worst kind of water crisis for over a decade where even contaminated water was scarce, the Balochistan government has claimed to have started clean water supply to only two cities.
Sources said that the previous two governments (five years of rule each) only inked memorandums of understanding for supply of water, but did not bother implementing them.Severe water shortage hits most parts of Quetta

“The provincial government has been utilising all available resources to resolve the water crisis in Quetta and Gwadar,” said caretaker Balochistan Minister for Public Health Engineering Naveed Ahmed Kalmati while addressing a press conference at the Quetta Press Club on Saturday.

Interim Minister for Information Khurram Shahzad and PHE Department officials were also present.

Kalmati said, “Water supply to Quetta has been started from Dasht, while the people of Gwadar are getting water from the Mirani Dam.

“Instead of spending Rs1 billion on purchasing water through tankers, desalination water plants have been functionalised which are capable of producing 300,000 gallons of water daily for Gawadar.”

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The minister said installation of 10 new tube wells in Jewani would start in the coming days.

Sharing details of Mangi Dam, which is said to be the only solution to Quetta's water crisis, the PHE minister said, “Over 10% construction of Mangi Dam has been done and the project will take three years to complete. However, we have been utilising our utmost efforts to complete the Mangi Dam till next year.”

He said the previous government had installed 170 new tube wells in Quetta, which were out of order. “We have forwarded a summary to the chief minister for their repair on immediate basis,” he added.

He said, “The provincial government has more than Rs500 million to connect 10 tube wells in Dasht with Quetta.”



To a query regarding tanker mafia looting the public in Gwadar, Kalmati said, “The provincial government is serious in providing relief to the people of Gwadar to end the water tanker system as most of the amount has been cleared and the remaining amount will be paid soon.

“The provincial government has signed an MoU with the Chinese government for supply of 1.5 million gallons of water daily to Gwadar and a desalination plant is functional and providing 300,000 gallons of water daily to Gwadar.”

On financial crisis at Wasa, the provincial minister said, “The government has finalised a new policy to address the existing issues of Wasa and the financial crisis will be resolved in the department through legislation.”