Additional Rs2.60b OK’ed for Chahan Dam

Official says process of awarding contract for water supply project to start soon

RAWALPINDI:

The Planning & Development (P&D) Department has approved the revised project concept (PC-1) of the Chahan Dam Water Supply Project with a projected additional cost of Rs2.60 billion.

A five-year delay has resulted in the project's cost to balloon, with the new cost climbing up to Rs8.10 billion.

With the completion of the project, six million gallons of water per day will be available to six densely populated union councils.

WASA Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood says planning is being done for the deployment of a consultant for the project, establishment of the project management unit and completion of land acquisition phases in minimum time. “We are working to complete the Chahan Dam project within the stipulated time and release water supply to six union councils.”

The P&D was sent the revised PC-1 of the project by the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) which was approved by the chairman of P&D Department the other day. Now, after the admin approval of the project, the process of awarding the contract will commence.

Changing the old design of Chahan Dam water supply, a new design has been developed to divert pipelines to deliver water to the residential population at full pressure and to prevent water theft. The project cost of Rs5.50 billion was increased by Rs1 billion due to an increase in material prices and design changes. However, due to further delays and design changes, an additional Rs1.60 billion was added and the revised PC-1 was prepared with an estimated cost of Rs.8.10 billion and sent to the P&D Department Punjab.

In order to make rapid progress in the Chahan Dam water supply project, which has been on hold since 2018, a project director was appointed and an initial grant of Rs800 million was awarded.

Read Chahan Dam project cost surges

The fixed cost of the project which has been approved by the Punjab government was Rs5.5 billion. However, to ensure maximum utilisation of the project, the site of the pumping station has been changed and brought closer to the dam by changing the old design. The route of major pipelines from pumping and filtration plants has also been rerouted to prevent water theft along the way.

As per the new design, water supply lines will pass along the main road so that the water theft could be identified. The pipelines will supply water from underground and overhead tanks to six union councils including Lakhan, Girja-I, Girja-II, Chak Jalaluddin, Mohri Ghazni and Dhamiyal.

Sources said that work on the project will start in May 2022 and be completed in two years.

It is to be noted that the six densely populated union councils adjoining Rawalpindi Cantt have no regular water supply system at present and the citizens are facing severe difficulties due to the increase in population and shortage of water.

According to sources, the availability of six million gallons of water per day in the presence of a partial water supply system already in place in these six settlements will solve the water problem in these areas on a permanent basis. The daily supply of six million gallons of water from Chahan Dam will be further enhanced through network expansion.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2022.