Islamabad: City's water supply network to be replaced

[Naveed Yaseen]

ISLAMABAD: The ‘cash-strapped’ Capital Development Authority (CDA) has sent a summary to the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) seeking Rs 6 billion for replacement of the capital city’s age-old water supply network.

The authority plans to kick off the project in 2009 and complete it 2012 on Engineering, Planning and Construction (EPC) basis, but paucity of funds is hindering the ambitious project, sources in the authority told Daily Times on Tuesday.

“Replacement of water supply network in a developed city is not an easy task, therefore, it has been decided to execute this project on EPC basis through an international firm, the sources said.

They said replacement of the existing water supply network would close the chapter of leakages thus ensuring water supplies all the year round. They said the capital city would face water shortage in future if the existing network was not replaced.

The sources said if the CDA bosses’ claim that the authority had enough funds to execute its projects was true then what stopped them from allocating funds for Ghazi Barotha Water Supply Project and replacing the capital city’s decades-old water supply network.

The sources said that before the announcement of financial year 2008-2009, the CDA high-ups had claimed that they would make major allocations for replacement of water supply network and in this regard they also directed the water supply directorate to prepare a plan.

“The directorate prepared a comprehensive plan three months prior to the announcement of budget 2008-2009 and sent it to the board for approval. But a few days ago the chairman office informed the directorate that the plan had been sent to the EAD for funding,” the sources said. They said most of the water lines in the city were broken causing wastage of around 40 percent of water. They further said that every summer the residents faced water shortage that would aggravate in future, as the authority has planned to launch seven new sectors.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg11_5