Ghazi Barotha water supply project to start in 2008
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is likely to kick off the multi-billion project for the conduction of water supply from Ghazi Barotha early next year. Director General Services of the CDA Mohammed Zaman told APP on Thursday that Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has approved the multi-billion project in principle, which would later be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC).
He said There was no other bottleneck in the execution of the project as the Authority was only feared of the rejection from IRSA because several technicalities had been involved in the project. Some provinces had also reservations about the project, which have been removed, he said. He said CDA will get formal approval from IRSA within next week, which would follow all other formalities. Zaman said the Authority will need the approval from the Planning Commission and hoped that owing to the essentiality of the project, the matter would be endorsed by the Commission in its meeting to be held next month.
After completion, the first phase would ensure supply of 200 million gallons per day (MGD) water from Tarbela Dam to Islamabad and Rawalpindi. He said the project would cater the needs of the Federal Capital Islamabad, Rawalpindi as well as the Cantonment areas.
In its first phase, Islamabad would receive 100MGD water while the same quantity would be supplied to both Rawalpindi and the Cantonment Board.