RAWALPINDI, Sept 1: The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has requested the federal government to release Rs400 million for re-starting work on the Khanpur Dam Water Supply Project Phase-III, which was stopped in March due to shortage of funds.

“The RCB has made the request to the federal government through the Ministry of Defence to release the Rs400 million otherwise the project cost will accelerate further,” a senior RCB official told Dawn.

He said the construction material cost had accelerated in the last five months and the project cost would increase from Rs699 million to Rs799 million. “If the funds are not received in this fiscal year, the project will be sent back to the planning commission for the revision of its total cost, further delaying the project by another year,” he said.

The project was launched in 2010 to provide potable water to the residents of the cantonment areas from Khanpur dam and it had to be completed in 2011.

The RCB official said the federal government had provided Rs80 million in the fiscal year 2012-13 but the amount was not enough to continue the work.

“The contractor was of the view that he had spent more than Rs100 million from his own pocket on the project and the RCB also verified that amount,” he said.

“For this fiscal, the government has allocated Rs200 million but the finance ministry did not release a penny so far,” he said and added that the request to double the allocation would likely be discussed in a meeting of the finance ministry and the RCB officials.

On the other hand, an official of the finance ministry, requesting not to be named, told Dawn that the ministry had offered the RCB Rs200 million in the next quarter of the current fiscal year. The remaining amount will be provided in the last quarter of the fiscal year.

However, he said, the RCB was insisting to release the whole amount or allocate Rs400 for the project in the current fiscal which was not possible. “We will provide Rs200 million because it is delayed due to some technical reason,” he said.

When contacted, RCB Cantonment Executive Officer Rana Manzoor Ahmed Khan said the project was very important for the cantonment areas residents as it would provide them clean drinking water round the clock.

He said it would also enhance the water storage capacity in the cantonment areas. “By constructing overhead storage tanks the Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards will able to store 10 million gallon of water.”