By Asad Cheema
ISLAMABAD: Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) Tahir Abbasi has said that the government in 2012 had planned to set up four sewage treatment plants in Islamabad at an estimated cost of Rs.2 billion, but despite a lapse of ten years, no progress has been made on this project, therefore, government should take immediate steps to set up sewage treatment plants in Islamabad to treat wastewater and reduce water pollution.
He said that the water sewage plant setup in Sector I-9 Islamabad was also non-functional so it should be made functional immediately so that the wastewater that was flowing to various streams could be treated for beneficial use. Tahir Abbasi said that currently only two water treatment plants were available in Islamabad, but were unable to supply the required water to the citizens due to low capacity. He said that supply of clean drinking water in Islamabad was a serious issue while citizens were facing acute water shortage in various parts of the city.
He said that due to non-availability of clean drinking water, water borne diseases including hepatitis were on the rise in the residents of Islamabad. He said that the present government has planned to set up a new water treatment plant to supply 52 million gallons per day water to the twin cities. He urged that establishment of new water treatment plant should be expedited to provide clean drinking water to the residents of twin cities that would reduce the water borne diseases as well.
Saif-ur-Rehman Khan Vice President ICCI said that more than 37 water filtration plants were installed in different sectors of Islamabad but most of them were either faulty or supplying contaminated water as their filters were not replaced in time. Due to this situation, the citizens were getting contaminated water which was having adverse effects on their health.
