ISLAMABAD, Jan 12 (INP): 1.2 Million Gallon per Day (MGD) Reverse Osmosis Desalination (ROD) Plant will be set up at Gwadar with a Chinese grant of more than Rs 2 billion to resolve the water shortage in the area.

Federal cabinet has approved the 1.2 MGD ROD Plant for Gwadar. The project will be completed with the help of China. It is aimed at providing fresh potable water for the people of the Gwadar city.

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.

INP/javed