by Shafqat Ali 

 

ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (Gwadar Pro) - Pakistani federal cabinet on Tuesday afternoon approved the 1.2 Million Gallon per Day (MGD) Reverse Osmosis Desalination (ROD) Plant at Gwadar with a Chinese grant of more than Pakistani Rs 2 billion to resolve the water shortage in the hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

 

Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired the federal cabinet meeting which approved the 1.2 MGD ROD Plant at Gwadar.

 

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry later told journalists that the project will be completed with the help of China. “The project is aimed at providing fresh potable water for the people of the Gwadar city,” he maintained.

 

Originally, the federal government had approved the development scheme for desalination of water based on a 50:50 % cost-sharing formula by the federal and Balochistan’s provincial governments respectively. The federal government had also released its funding of Rs 138 million in 2006-2007 but the project could not be installed. Later the cost of this project was revised upwards to Rs 978 million which went up further as the plan is being implemented.

 

The population of Gwadar city has no reliable and sustainable access to drinking water for a very long time. Their main source of water is Ankara Dam which due to frequent droughts is unable even to meet the drinking water requirements of the city's population.

 

The current water requirement of the Gwadar City is 4.2 MGD per day while supply from the government source is 2.0 MGD.

 

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry contended that the water project will eliminate the shortage. “The people of Gwadar will have access to clean water now,” he added.

 

This article originally appeared on Gwadar Pro.