Ghazi-Barotha project may hit delays

Consultants given a month to submit inception report

ISLAMABAD:

The Ghazi-Barotha project to conduct water from the River Indus at Tarbela Dam to the twin cities is in danger of running into delays over acquiring land for the project and other bottlenecks.

However, the federal planning minister has warned that no time overrun will be allowed in the project.

This was disclosed during a high-level meeting to review the feasibility and land acquisition process for the conduction of water project from the Indus Water System at Tarbela Dam to the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi in Islamabad on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by the Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar, while it was attended by the Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan, MNA from Islamabad Raja Khuram Nawaz and senior officials of the ministry.

Participants of the meeting were informed that CDA had awarded the consultancy contract for the water supply project and that the consultants are expected to start work imminently.

Representatives of the consultants, who were present in the meeting, shared their timelines for the project with Umar.

The federal minister, however, directed that no time overrun will be allowed. He directed the CDA to submit weekly progress reports while the federal planning commission should ensure that bottlenecks in the project are removed immediately.

Umar also directed the consultants to explore new and innovative technologies while making recommendations for expediting the execution phase of the project.

In this regard, he assured the contractor and the project’s executing authority that all necessary resources will be made available for the early execution of the project.

He further directed that the consultants submit a draft inception report for the project within a month for its review apart from devising a strategy for proceeding further.

Umar also chaired a meeting on staffing and other issues faced by educational institutions in Islamabad. Awan, Nawaz, Parliamentary Secretary on Education Wajiha Akram, the federal education secretary and senior education officials participated in the meeting.

Participants of the meeting were briefed about the current status of issues on upgrading schools in the federal capital, particularly the provision of buses for transportation of students. It was decided that a proposal in this regard will be submitted to the federal cabinet by the federal education ministry within a fortnight.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2020.