Land row: Daducha Dam project hits legal snag

Indefinite delay expected as Army Welfare Housing Scheme obtains favourable ruling for half the proposed site.

RAWALPINDI:

After completion Daducha Dam can prove to be a perennial source of water for residents of the garrison city. Unfortunately, for now the project has hit a snag.

In the wake of an increasingly lengthy legal battle over the proposed site-- between 20 landowners and AWHS, now Defence Housing Authority (DHA)-- it seems the replacement for Rawal Dam will take some time to become a reality.

In the most recent development the AWHS filed an intra-court appeal with the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday and obtained a favourable decision involving 9,996 kanals. At present the land proposed for the dam is in the authority’s possession.

Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa and Justice Ali Baqir Najafi of the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench suspended the high court’s July 21 order declaring the land could not be acquired by the Punjab government and the AWHS as it did not serve any public purpose.

Landowners had taken AWHS and the Punjab government to court on the plea that their land could not be acquired under land acquisition laws for a project that did not serve any public purpose.

According to the documents available with The Express Tribune, the land which includes the area for the proposed site of the dam was acquired by AWHS for DHA Valley which had signed an agreement with Bahria Town for its development.

The latest high court order will draw out the legal battle between the two parties, dashing hopes for the immediate construction of Daducha Dam termed as a replacement for Rawal Dam. The latter, which is considered the single most important source of surface water for Rawalpindi, was constructed in 1962 and is on the verge of completing its life span.

However, work on Daducha Dam, first proposed in 1988, cannot be initiated as the land is currently in DHA’s possession. The reservoir was to be constructed on Ling River over 18,566 kanals, costing Rs7 billion, according to a feasibility report prepared by Small Dams Organisation.

An official of Water and Sanitation Agency said Daducha Dam would supply an estimated 25 million gallons daily (MGD) water to Rawalpindi city and cantonment areas if constructed. It would be a perennial source of drinking water for the next 50 years. Demand for drinking water in the city is 58 MGD, however currently the total quantity of water being supplied to consumers is around 43 MGD which means that the city is facing a shortfall of 15 MGD water.

The Punjab government has time and again expressed its resolve to construct Daducha Dam. It had even started acquiring land for the purpose, before it was halted due to the legal tussle.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2012.