The Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, formally signed an agreement this week to overhaul Islamabad’s water and sewage systems.
The partnership, cemented at the CDA Headquarters on December 19, positions the IFC to provide technical support and crucial Transaction Advisory Services for three key projects under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. This significant financial and technological shift aims to build a more efficient, revenue-generating, and sustainable water future for Pakistan’s fast-growing federal capital.
The ceremony was attended by Federal Secretary Interior Muhammad Khurram Agha, Chairman CDA and Chief Commissioner Islamabad Muhammad Ali Randhawa, Member Planning and Design Dr. Khalid Hafiz, and the IFC Regional Director, alongside other senior officers from CDA’s Islamabad Water Agency and the IFC.
Technical Expertise Meets City Management
The core of the new agreement is leveraging the IFC’s extensive experience in structuring complex infrastructure projects. The IFC will guide the Islamabad Water Agency through the process of executing these projects as PPPs, which helps governments attract private capital, expertise, and efficiency. Transaction Advisory Services are currently being procured in line with relevant rules, initiating the formal steps toward project implementation.
The completion of these three water and sewage projects promises to address long-standing issues within the Federal Capital’s municipal network. Components range from the fundamental, like improving the direct supply of clean water, to the commercially critical, such as installing water meters and focusing on the reduction of non-revenue water (NRW), the water that is produced but lost before reaching customers due to leaks, theft, or inaccurate metering.
Simultaneously, the plan includes essential upgrades to existing infrastructure. Measures to make the city’s water pumps energy-efficient are part of the scope, along with the much-needed repair and rehabilitation of sewage lines and treatment plants. These measures are designed to strengthen the physical integrity of the network while significantly cutting down operational costs.
Modernizing Supply and Curbing Wastage
CDA Chairman Muhammad Ali Randhawa emphasized that the PPP structure itself is an innovation in monitoring and water management. He highlighted the central role of technology in ensuring success.
“Completing these projects under a PPP will help improve the monitoring system and control water wastage,” Chairman Randhawa stated. He further stressed the tech focus, saying, “Modern technology will be utilized for monitoring all installations and water pumps of Islamabad Water which will improve water supply.”
This emphasis on using technology for real-time monitoring directly addresses issues like non-revenue water, a persistent hurdle for utility providers globally. By strengthening control over the network, the authority anticipates a substantial increase in its revenue, money that officials say will be channeled right back into better water services for citizens.
“All resources will be utilized to provide the citizens of the Federal Capital, Islamabad, with the best facilities for clean water and sewage systems,” the Chairman affirmed, reinforcing the commitment to fully utilize the IFC’s “technical expertise, experience and capacity.”
Widening Water Gap
While the agreement represents a positive and necessary step toward improving infrastructure efficiency and governance, the underlying issue of water scarcity for the rapidly expanding city remains a significant long-term challenge.
One official, commenting on the development, noted that the initiative to improve supply and install water meters is welcome. However, he pointed out a deeper structural problem: “No new source of water was explored after Khanpur Dam – back in the 1990s, while the population of Islamabad has been facing rapid growth.”
The numbers underscore the severity of the gap: the current water need for Islamabad is reportedly over 250 million gallons per day (MGD), yet the CDA only supplies about 70 MGD from all its sources, including Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam, and tubewells. This disparity emphasizes the need for long-term supply solutions to complement the current focus on demand management and system efficiency. Addressing this shortfall will undoubtedly become the next major test for city planners as they look to secure a truly sustainable future for the capital.