63 tube wells in the capital need to be repaired

ISLAMABAD: The city managers have a total of 187 tube wells intended for provision of water to residents — 63 of these are non-functional. As frequent water shortages hit Islamabad in the last six months, these 63 tube wells had been abandoned by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

Concerned officials said that unavailability of funds and non-cooperation of Islamabad Electricity Supply Company (Iesco) in repairing the machinery were the main reasons for these tube wells remaining non-functional.

The functional 124 tube wells have been contributing 16 million gallons to the total supply of 39 million gallons water per day to the capital.

Talking to The Express Tribune DG Water Management, Samaullah Aman confirmed that the tube wells could have been repaired to add another 9 million gallons of water to the daily supply.

According to official data from the water management wing, “Out of this 39 million gallons water per day supply to the capital, approximately 40 per cent goes to waste due to leakage in underground water supply lines.”

The DG Water said that the water pipeline could not be repaired because of a shortage of funds. “We paid Rs6.3 million to Iesco for the plan ‘Express Feeders’, which would enable the Authority to run 25 tube wells around the clock but IESCO did not pay any attention to the issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, Farman Khan, Manager Marketing Iesco did not agree with CDA official’s stance that it was the company’s duty to follow the instructions of the water and power ministry keeping in mind the record shortfall of 5,000 MGW this year.

However, we also approved the request of CDA for two new tube well connections and referred the matter to the construction department of the company for further process.

When asked about the delay in issuing seven new connections to CDA, he said the issue of non-payment of amount was one of the reasons for this.

The CDA requested Iesco in January 2010 for electrical connections to run seven new tube wells that would cater to the need of drinking water in Islamabad. These tube wells will have to be installed in sectors G-7, G-8, and F-8.

Deputy Manager Planning Iesco Sher Abbas turned down the CDA official’s claim that the authority paid the entire amount for installation of connections for the new tube wells.

However, he said that the recent request sent by the CDA to Iesco for installation of two new connections for water wells was being considered.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2010.