Rawalpindi:
The chief minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, gave the approval of the principle of the Rawalpindi development plan, prioritizing the improvements of the water supply and sanitation systems of the city. The Director General of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) was responsible for immediately preparing PC-1 for all the proposed plans.
This directive was published during a joint meeting on Monday, chaired by the secretary of the Punjab for urban development and the public health engineering, Noorul Amin Mengal. Officials from the Rawalpindi Development Authority (GDR), WASA, Parks and Horticulture (PHA) and public health engineering attended the session.
The secretary underlined the need for rapid monsoon preparations and urged the early completion of the feasibility study for the water supply of the Daducha dam to ensure a sustainable supply for Rawalpindi. He offered construction ground storage tanks in the parks, depending on the Lahore model, to store rainwater for horticultural use, stressing that “each drop of water must be saved”.
Secretary Housing congratulated the WASA for exceeding its income recovery objective, collected from Rs 2.6 billion against RS 2.3 billion rupees and called for an even higher target in the next financial year.
WASA Director General, Muhammad Saleem Ashraf, shared that a full monsoon plan was already in place, including the accelerated cleaning of 15 drains in the city and Nulllah Leh. The training of staff and the maintenance of the sewer lines have been completed and five monsoon camps will be operational, supported by a central control room at the ASA headquarters.
To guarantee an uninterrupted water supply during the summer, 20 new tube wells are installed and an additional contribution of the Rawal and Khanpur dams has been secure. The current dam projects will soon add 12 mgd of the Chahan dam, 5 mgd from the Rawal dam and 8 mgd from the Khanpur dam. The feasibility of the Daducha dam, which should provide 35 mgd, should end within two months.
During the meeting, the Director General of the GDR has given progressive updates to major projects, including the Ring Road and the Diets of Nulllah Leh, which were highlighted for the completion in a timely and transparent. The director general of the PHA, Ahmad Hassan Ranjha, also informed the participants about the beautification efforts of Citywide Park.
