FWO increases dams construction cost

Islamabad: Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has substantially raised the cost of different dams being built in Balochistan after completion of detailed engineering design on the request of provincial government.

Sources told Business Recorder on Friday that FWO had completed the detailed engineering design of Halak and Mangi dams being built with an objective to check the water table which is depleting at a fast pace in the province.

The FWO, according to the sources, had recommended pursuing the case with the Planning Commission for implementation of these projects independently instead of clubbing them.

Apart from this, the FWO has estimated the cost of Halak dam at a little over Rs 3 billion compared to the originally proposed Rs 0.5 billion. Similarly, the cost of Mangi dam has been raised from a little over Rs one billion to around Rs 5 billion, the sources added.

These issues have recently been taken up by the Project Management Unit (PMU) at the Planning Commission (PC). According to the sources, the PC has put the decisions on raising cost and their execution as separate projects on hold. These decisions will be taken up by the concerned authorities of the PC, the sources said.

These projects are implemented primarily to provide drinking water to Quetta and some other areas of the provinces. In case of drinking water supply, the situation is very bad in Balochistan. Less than 15 percent of the population has access to bacteria-free water supply.

For irrigation purposes, a mega project of building the Kacchi Canal is already under execution. It will be 500 kilometres long-300 kilometres in Punjab and 200 kilometres in Balochistan. It will be constructed at a cost of Rs 32.5 billion.

However, Balochistan has vast potential for using around 10 MAF surface water. Only 3 MAF water is being used with the existing infrastructure.

According to some research reports, because of extreme aridity and dearth of perennial sources of surface water, groundwater has been considered the only dependable source to meet the growing needs in Balochistan. Historically, it has been extracted from dug wells, Karezes, and springs.

However, the rural electrification program coupled with improved communication network and favourable prices of agriculture and horticulture produce have resulted in large scale drilling of tubewells. This indiscriminate drilling of tubewells has played a key role in unprecedented groundwater depletion.