ISLAMABAD: Despite the passage of 15 years after approval by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), work on Chirah Dam could not be started while the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are facing a growing shortage of water. Ecnec had approved the project in 2009 for providing 15 million gallon per day (mgd) water to the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. According to its PC-I, the project was supposed to be completed in 2013; however, no practical step was taken to construct the dam on Soan River near Chirah village. The project worth Rs5.3 billion was a joint venture of CDA and Small Dam Organisation (SDO) and the latter was supposed to execute it. The project was supposed to be ready in 2103, according to its PC-I. Ecnec had approved project in 2009; Under PC-I, work was to be completed in 2013 The issue came under discussion recently at a meeting on water issues which was chaired by CDA Chairman Mohammad Ali Randhawa and attended by representatives from SDO and Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Rawalpindi. The meeting was told that the proposed dam was at estimation stage. Sources said that the CDA chief showed his displeasure over the inordinate delay and directed to remove obstacles for early start of the project. “We do agree the project is facing an inordinate delay, but there is no delay on our part as SDO is the executing agency,” said director media CDA Shahid Kiani. He said that many years ago the CDA had paid Rs852 million to SDO for the project. “Recently, in a meeting this issue was discussed in detail,” he said. The sources said that during the meeting it was decided that the CDA will hold a meeting with SDO to make a decision. “In coming days, we will hold a crucial meeting in this regard,” an official said. The sources said keeping in view the inflation rate the cost of the project had increased manifold. It is relevant to note that both Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been facing shortage of water. Islamabad is a water scarcity-hit city as CDA has been supplying around 65mgd to urban areas while the total need of both urban and rural areas is more than 220mgd. The people in rural areas are mostly dependent on water boring and other small schemes of the district government. On the other hand, during the last almost three decades, no new dam has been built to overcome the shortage of water in Islamabad which has only three major sources - Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam and tubewells. However, it also gets around three mgd of water from Rawal Dam, which mainly provides water to residents of Rawalpindi. Over the years, various proposed projects including a Ghazi Barotha/Tarbela dam designed to provide 100 mgd each to Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Chinot carryover Dam in Islamabad, Shahdara Dam and proposed Dotara Dam remained under discussion in various meetings of the CDA. However, no step was taken to start construction work. These projects are still at the feasibility stages. Earlier, various departments were dealing with water related issues. However, last month the federal government transferred the administrative control of all water-related departments from the Metropolitan Corporation of Islamabad (MCI) to the CDA, as the civic agency was complaining that it was unable to address the shortfall of millions of gallons under the current arrangement. After getting control of the department, the CDA set up a new organisation “Islamabad Water” headed by Director General Sardar Khan Zimri. A summary on the basis of the decision made by the federal cabinet had said the Water Management Wing of CDA was unable to meet a shortfall of 40mgd in urban areas and cannot extend its services to the 1.3 million people living in villages around Islamabad. “The gap in supply and demand for clean water is increasing day by day due to positive change in urban population and climate conditions. There is no integrated planning and management, no water and sewerage infrastructure master plan is available and no water and sewerage business plan has ever been prepared.” After being convinced by CDA’s point of view, the cabinet approved the summary but it is yet to be seen how Islamabad Water will perform.