Development hang-ups: Political rivalry leaves Murree thirsty

Multi-billion-rupee water project has been frozen for four years due to alleged political point scoring.

RAWALPINDI:

A huge amount is feared to go down the drain if work on an incomplete mega water supply project for Murree remains suspended, documents and sources revealed to The Express Tribune.

Punjab government has stopped funding to the Murree Bulk Water Supply Project for the last four years, despite the fact that the previous government had spent Rs3.25 billion on it.

Work on the project was started in 2006 after the contract was given to a private firm, Siemens, for Rs4 billion to pump water from Neelum-Jhelum River near Kotli Sattian to Murree. The project was to be completed by December 2008, to supply six million gallons of water to Murree and adjoining areas a day. Four tanks have been built at different points to move water to the main tank at Kashmir Point, a provincial public health department official, who had remained associated with the project, said.

He added that under the project, a 132KV grid station was to be installed at Chaprian for which Rs350 million was paid to Wapda. The station would power a filtration plant near Jhelum River and pumping stations would take water up the hill.

According to official documents, the provincial authorities have asked Wapda to refund the payment for the grid station, citing the Punjab government’s lack of interest in the project.

When former Murree Tehsil Nazim Sardar Saleem Khan was asked if there was any political reason behind the halt, he said the project had been a longstanding demand of Murree residents and accused the PML-N of playing petty politics by refusing to let PML-Q get the credit for starting the project.

A huge amount of Rs3 billion has already been spent and due to delays, the government paid Rs320 million in damages to the contractor. With the passage of time, cost escalation would make the project more difficult to complete, the former nazim said.

He said the daily demand of Murree was three million gallons, but presently only 500,000 gallons are provided via the Haro River through rationing. A further 500,000 gallons are being obtained through other sources every week, Saleem added.

The Kashmir Point water tank has the capacity to store 10 million gallons. There had also been discussions with the civic agencies of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to sell them any extra water, he added.

On the other hand, Adviser to the Punjab chief minister Raja Ashfaq Sarwar claimed the project was not meant for Murree at all. “It was for the New Murree Project at Patriata, where a PML-Q leader had purchased land and had planned to cut down trees on a large scale.”

On the technical side the adviser said no arrangements had been made to pay the electricity bills of the project.

However, Sarwar said the project had not been cancelled altogether and was still under consideration to be used to supply water to different areas near Murree, even if not to city residents.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 23^rd, 2012.