Islamabad - The cost of the land acquisition for water supply from Indus River System at Tarbela Dam to the Federal Capital and Rawalpindi has been increased by 20 percent during 2017 to 2020.

In the 2017, the base cost of land acquisition for the project of supply of water to the ICT and Rawalpindi from Tarbela Dam was Rs 2,017.32 million which has gone up to Rs 2,814.16 million in 2020, official source told The Nation here Sunday. The escalation factor for 2018 was Rs 131.14 million (6.5 percent) of the cost, escalation factor for 2019 was Rs 262.25 million (13 percent) of the cost, while for the year twenty the cost was increased by Rs 403.46 million (20 percent).

Besides, escalation for land acquisition on 2nd year @6.5 percent will be Rs 73.168 million, contingencies @ 3 percent on the base cost will add another Rs 84.424 million and departmental charges @6.5 percent on the base cost will increase the total land cost by another Rs 182.92 million. The total cost of the land acquisition is Rs 3154.67 million which will be equally shared by the federal government and the province of Punjab. 

The per acre land acquisition cost is Rs 3.8 million. The technical appraisal had however termed the per acre rate on higher side as compared to the land rate in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

The project can meet the present as well as future requirements up to the year 2050.The project is planned to be executed under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode for which the land will be acquired by the government. The project is titled conduction of water from Indus River System at Tarbela Dam to the cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi including RCB and CCB.

The project envisages supply of water to twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi through surface as well as groundwater channels. The project is for supplying clean drinking water from the Indus River System at Tarbella Dam to the twin cities of Islamabad & Rawalpindi. Presently the demand of water of the twin cities is 440 million Gallon per day, half of which i.e 220 million Gallon is being met from various sources. The gap of 220 million Gallon per day will be fulfilled by this project. As per plan 200 MGD will be provided by the year 2025, another 200 MGD by the year 2032 and additional 255 MGD by the year 2044.