Rawalpindi: The balloting was held at the office of the Agency for Barani Areas Development (ABAD) for providing government financial assistance for 69 mobile community solar tube well systems, construction of small and medium water reservoirs and other facilities in arid districts of Rawalpindi department.
The balloting was held in a meeting chaired by Director General ABAD Shireen Naz here Friday. Under the balloting, financial assistance will be provided to more than 350 farmers in 10 arid districts for community solar tube wells, construction of medium and small water reservoirs and provision of additional facilities to already constructed ponds.
According to the details, the draw was done in a transparent manner during which the officers from the Public Relations Department and the Commissioner’s Office Rawalpindi were also present. The whole balloting process was also recorded on camera.
This financial support will be provided under the Integrated Farms Development Project which started in 2022 with
an initial cost of Rs 450 million.
Later, the value of this project was increased to Rs.1000 million. As much as 80% progress has been made on this project which is to be completed by June 2025. As many as 69 mobile community solar tube well systems will be provided at a cost of Rs 2 million per system under the draw.
According to DPR, each system will benefit three to seven farmers and each solar tube well system will be able to irrigate 200 acres of land. The systems are mobile and can be moved from one field to another. The farmer will be responsible for providing the motor and water source for this project.
According to distribution statistics issues by ABAD, 8 community solar tube well systems will be provided to farmers in Attock district, 6 in Rawalpindi district, 8 in Chakwal district, 6 in Jhelum district, while 9 solar tube well systems will be provided to farmers in Khushab district, 17 in Bhakkar district, 8 in Layyah district and 6 in Narowal district. In this draw, 155 small water reservoirs
will be set up at the cost of Rs. 500,000. each, while 10 medium level water reservoirs worth Rs.1million each, will be constructed.
As many as 15 farmers will be provided with modern facilities in their water reservoirs including water level uplifting at a cost of Rs.500,000. per farmer. The Integrated Farms Development Project is for the districts of Attock, Rawalpindi including Murree, Jhelum, Chakwal, Khushab, Bhakkar, Narowal, Gujrat, Sialkot and Layyah.
DG ABAD Shireen Naz on the occasion said that through the financial support provided under the Integrated Farms Development Project, all the facilities are provided by the department itself, for which the services of highly reputed consultants has been obtained.
The DG said that under this project, solar tube wells, water storage ponds and other facilities are provided to the farmers, followed by field inspections by the teams of ABAD to maintain the transparency.
“The projects are regularly monitored through the official Facebook page of the Departm
ent of ABAD”, he said.