RAWALPINDI:Commissioner Rawalpindi Division Liaquat Ali Chattha here on Tuesday presided over a meeting to review the progress on the Dadhocha dam project.
Director Development, Nazia Sudhan, ADC Revenue, Nabil Ali, Xen Small Dams and other officers concerned attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that Dadhocha Dam after construction would help meet the water shortage of domestic, agricultural and industrial use.
The Commissioner said that the dam would also become a spot for fish farming and a great tourist point in the region.
He directed the Director of Development and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Revenue to attend the Dadhocha Dam court hearing on March 22 along with the legal team.
The team was instructed to appear before the court with full preparation so that the importance of this dam could be properly highlighted and the stay order taken on its construction could be vacated.
The people whose land comes in the area of the dam would be given fair and right compensation, the Commissioner said.
A delay in the construction of this dam would be an extreme injustice to the people of Rawalpindi, he said adding, at present, Rawalpindi’s water demand was 65 million gallons per day, which would reach 90 million gallons in the coming years. The amount of water available was 51 main gallons, he informed.
After completion, the dam would be able to provide 35 million gallons of drinking water to the people of Rawalpindi. Water scarcity had become a global problem and many countries were considering different ways to meet the shortage, Liaquat Ali Chattha said.
“Pakistan is also one of the top countries suffering from the water crisis,” he added.
Due to the non-construction of dams, the per capita availability of water here had decreased four times in the last 50 years, the Commissioner said adding, after the construction of dam a huge amount of water could be saved from being lost during floods every year.
Rs 6492.480 million had been allocated for Dadhocha Dam being built at a distance of 25 km from Rawalpindi city, he informed.
Dadhocha Dam would have a gross storage capacity of 60,000-acre feet after construction, the Commissioner added.