Islamabad to get new 52MGD treatment plant

Planning minister directs clean-up of channel supplying water to Sangjiani treatment plant

ISLAMABAD: With the water crisis in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi far from resolved, the federal planning minister on Monday called for constructing a new water treatment plant to service the two cities apart from enhancing the supply of water to existing treatment plants.

This was directed as the Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired a meeting on water supply issues to Islamabad and Rawalpindi from Khanpur Dam on Monday.

During the meeting, Umar was briefed about the progress made in improving the supply of water from the Khanpur Dam to the federal capital.

The planning minister directed to rectify and overcome all hurdles in the smooth supply of water to the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Terming the supply of sufficient water to the twin cities a priority of the government, Umar said that he has already issued instructions for commencing work on the second phase of supplying water from the Khanpur Dam reservoir.

He was further informed that the water treatment plant set up at Sangjiani has an installed capacity to process around 51 million gallons of water per day (MGD), however, the plant is currently operating far below its capacity.

As a result, Rawalpindi is receiving just 15MGD of water from the plant instead of 34.17 MGD that it is supposed to. Similarly, Islamabad is getting around 10 MGD of water at the moment instead of 16.83 MGD that it is supposed to receive.

To solve this issue, the planning minister instructed that the canal which transports water from the Khanpur dam to Sangjani Water Treatment Plant should be de-silted and that this process should be expedited.

Moreover, he directed that this work needs to be tackled by a single execution authority for effective operation and management of the canal.

It was further decided that a new project to set up a 52 MGD water treatment plant will be initiated in the twin cities. For this purpose, the land will be obtained from the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Once complete, the project will help enhance the supply of water to the twin cities.

Umar directed to prepare a project concept-I (PC-I) for the project and while fulfilling the needs of carrying out a feasibility study by hiring a proficient consultant for the project.

The meeting was attended by SAPM on CDA Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan, MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz, senior officials of planning commission, CDA officials, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) managing director, irrigation departments of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkwa (K-P), Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) and the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) officials.

Earlier on Sunday, Rawalpindi WASA had decided to restore a worn-out, concrete water supply channel from the Rawal dam to the city with financial support from Japan-based firm.

Under the project, a three-foot-wide plastic pipe will be embedded within the existing concrete pipeline which will not require fresh. After completion of the project, water supply to Rawalpindi from Rawal dam will increase by another five million gallons per day (MGD).

Apart from this much-needed project, WASA Managing Director (MD) Muhammad Tanvir further said that a new pumping station and an underground water tank will be constructed to store and manage additional water supply from the new line.

Tanvir said that WASA currently receives a meagre 23 MGD from the Rawal dam for treatment against its installed capacity of 28 MGD.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2020.