CDA Moves Shahdara Dam Forward: What 10 MGD New Water Supply Could Mean for Islamabad Property

The PC-I of the proposed Shahdara Dam is expected to be completed during the second week of September 2026, according to CDA officials, after which the authority plans to move toward approval and tendering. This is a direct update to CDA's Shahdara Dam plans, which milkiyat.com covered earlier this year when the project was first announced alongside a broader push to regulate illegal housing societies in Islamabad.

What Has Actually Changed Since the Original Announcement

The project has moved from general announcement to concrete pre-construction milestones. CDA's consultant, Nespak, is currently preparing the PC-I, following an earlier feasibility study conducted by Wapda. Once PC-I is approved, CDA will proceed to tendering, with the project to be built under Engineering, Procurement, and Construction, or EPC, mode. A CDA deputy director indicated that once construction actually begins, a dam of this scale could realistically be completed within approximately two years, though the authority notes the precise timeline will be reflected in the finalised PC-I itself.

The Numbers Behind Why This Project Matters

CDA currently supplies around 70 million gallons of water per day to Islamabad from its three main sources, against an estimated daily demand of 220 million gallons, a supply gap that has defined the city's water shortage for years. The proposed Shahdara Dam would add capacity of up to 10 million gallons per day, a meaningful but partial contribution toward closing that gap. For construction, CDA will need to acquire more than 30 acres of land in the Shahdara area itself.

A Rare, Direct Admission of Three Decades of Neglect

What distinguishes this update from a routine project status report is CDA's own unusually candid acknowledgment of the water sector's history. Officials confirmed that over the past three decades, no major new water source has been developed for Islamabad despite a sharp increase in the city's population, resulting in a steadily declining underground water table in many areas. In several localities, particularly Sector H-13 and Ghouri Town, residents currently depend entirely on water tankers for their supply. During this same multi-decade period, CDA instead directed resources toward road related projects, including, in just the past two years, mega road and bridge projects worth billions of rupees, while the water sector remained comparatively neglected.

Shahdara Is the First of Three Planned Dams

Shahdara is being prioritised as the first of three dams currently under consideration by CDA. Chinot Dam is planned for construction in the catchment area of Simly Dam, while Mega Dotara Dam, with a proposed capacity of 72 million gallons per day to be shared between Islamabad and Rawalpindi, would be built upstream of Khanpur Dam. CDA officials say Shahdara is being pursued first specifically because it represents the fastest, most immediately achievable step toward relieving the city's water shortage, on the direction of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf. Naqvi has separately announced that beyond new dam construction, the authority's existing, rusted water pipeline network will also be replaced as part of the same broader push.

What Remains Before Construction Actually Begins

PC-I completion and approval, followed by a full tendering process, still stand between this announcement and the start of physical construction. Given CDA's own acknowledged three-decade track record of prioritising road infrastructure over water projects, readers should treat this month's PC-I completion as a genuine, concrete milestone worth noting, while recognising that formal approval, tendering, and land acquisition for the required 30-plus acres all still need to happen before ground is actually broken.

What This Means for Islamabad Property and Development

Islamabad's water shortage has long functioned as a genuine constraint on residential expansion, particularly in sectors and localities without access to CDA's main network. A new, dedicated 10 MGD source, if it proceeds through tendering and construction as now planned, would represent the first genuinely new addition to the city's water supply in three decades, a meaningful signal for long term housing capacity and infrastructure planning even though its individual contribution is modest relative to the full 150 MGD supply gap. The required acquisition of more than 30 acres in Shahdara itself also gives this project a direct land and property dimension, separate from its water supply role. Property owners and prospective buyers in currently underserved localities, including Sector H-13 and Ghouri Town specifically, should watch this project's progress through tendering and construction as a genuine, if partial, sign of long term improvement to water security in their area, while continuing to treat current tanker dependence as an ongoing reality until new supply actually comes online.

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Sources

1. Capital Development Authority, official website: https://www.cda.gov.pk/
2. Wikipedia, Capital Development Authority Pakistan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Development_Authority_(Pakistan)
3. Milkiyat.com, CDA told to fast track Shahdara Dam, regulate illegal housing societies: https://milkiyat.com/articles/cda-shahdara-dam-illegal-housing-societies-2026