While highlighting the issue, Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ali, Executive Coordinator CRCP, said that the decision to install the high-tech sewage treatment plant in Islamabad had been taken without consulting various stakeholders. The project would be completed with assistance of the French government in form of a loan of Rs.913 million and obviously, this loan has to be paid from the taxpayers’ money. It is, therefore, the right of citizens to be consulted and be fully aware of the need for the plant, he said. Mr. Mukhtar Ahmad emphasized that this project should not be initiated without soliciting views of various stakeholders in an open public hearing.

Expressing his reservations on the need for the sewage treatment plant, he said that three sewage treatment plants already existed in Islamabad. Two of them were non-functional whereas the third plant was operating below its capacity. He was of the view that CDA should first make the existing plants fully operational and only then should think of establishing new facilities after providing their justification. He highlighted that the construction of the envisaged high-tech and foreign-designed plant would not only be costly but it would not work for long time in view of the similar operational experience of the existing sewage treatment systems. According to experts, such treatment plants require a lot of energy and highly skilled manpower and are designed for cooler environment. He said that CDA should consider the use of indigenous technology, which would not only be cheaper but also more workable in Islamabad.

He demanded that the issues related to the need, design and feasibility of the project should be openly debated and, for this purpose, a public hearing should be held. The CDA must justify the need for such an expensive sewage treatment plant, as it has to be purchased and operated at the cost of public money.