Once seen as the perfect solution to meet the water demands of Rawalpindi and Islamabad for the next century, the Ghazi Barotha Water Project has become a cautionary tale of delays, financial hurdles, and bureaucratic mismanagement. Initially envisioned to transform water access for the twin cities, the project has now been dubbed “impossible to complete” due to persistent obstacles.
Originally proposed in 2004 under the administration of former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi and ex-president Pervez Musharraf, the project’s estimated cost was Rs35 billion. However, over the years, inflation, skyrocketing costs of construction materials like cement and steel, and rising labor expenses have inflated the budget to an astonishing Rs170 billion.
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The plan involved constructing a pipeline with an 80-inch diameter spanning 60 kilometers from Ghazi Barotha to Sangjani and Khanpur Dam, capable of delivering 600 million gallons of water per day to Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Despite this ambitious design, continuous bureaucratic delays have stalled the project for over two decades.
One major setback came when a Rs500 million grant approved by the World Bank was redirected to another project in Karachi. Since then, multiple governments have failed to revive the initiative, leaving it stuck in administrative limbo.
Had the project reached completion, it would have ensured uninterrupted water supply from multiple dams, allowing for the shutdown of 1,200 tube wells operated by the Capital Development Authority (CDA), Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA), and Cantonment Boards, significantly reducing electricity costs.
