Dam to supply potable water to Peshawar

Advisor to the Caretaker Chief Minister Malik Mehar Ilahi on Thursday called on Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Caretaker Chief Minister Muhammad Azam Khan and discussed with him the important greater water supply scheme for Peshawar city as the chief minister assured his all-out support for the project.

The chief minister was informed that the project has been in limbo for over two decades despite the importance of this mega project to provide clean drinking water to the households in the city and its suburbs.

He was informed that clean drinking water will be provided to the district from the under construction Mohmand Dam.

A one kilometer tunnel is required to provide the water to a treatment plant where it would be purified and filtered and then supplied to Peshawar district.

“If materialized, the scheme would provide 294 million gallons water per day,” said the advisor, adding that the construction of the tunnel is part of the Mohmand Dam which will be constructed by WAPDA.

“If this important water supply project is completed then it will solve the water scarcity problems for the growing district population for a long time,” he maintained, adding that the underground water level in Peshawar was going down with each passing day and it has already touched a dangerous level.

The CM on this occasion assured that every effort would be made to start and complete the project on priority.

It is worth mentioning here that the provincial government proposed clean drinking water supply project for Peshawar from the under construction Mohmand Dam back in 2021.

However, the project will cost Rs107 billion, therefore, the provincial government asked the centre for financial support.

According to K-P Local Government Department sources, a plan to supply clean water from Mohmand Dam to Peshawar has been sent to Islamabad stating that the estimated cost of the project is Rs107.55 billion which the province cannot afford on its own.

It has been requested to include the project in the proposed Public Sector Development Program of the Fiscal Year 2022-23, i.e. the development program of the federal government so that all the expenses to be incurred on it are borne by the Centre or the provincial and federal governments together.

Another plan has also been proposed to supply water from Jabba Dam to Hayatabad and Khyber tribal district while for the rest of Peshawar, clean water will be provided from the under construction Mohmand Dam.

In the past when Haji Ghulam Ali was the district nazim of Pehawar, he proposed a gravity water supply scheme from Warsak Dam to Peshawar but it didn’t materialize due to lack of funds as well as support from the provincial government as the government refused to fund this vital water supply scheme.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2023.