Islamabad is set to get its first new dam in nearly 30 years. The Capital Development Authority (CDA), which runs the city, has invited construction companies to bid for the Shahdara Dam project. According to the CDA, the dam is expected to add 5 to 10 million gallons of water a day to Islamabad’s supply, depending on the final design and technical checks.
The bids were invited on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. CDA Chairman Sohail Ashraf told Dawn that the authority wants to finish the dam in 20 months, faster than the two years set in its official planning document. “We are going to resolve Islamabad’s water issue. Shahdara Dam is the first major step towards our goal,” Sohail Ashraf said.
If work starts in the coming weeks, a 20-month timeline would put completion around mid-2028.
The dam will be built near the Shahdara picnic area in the Margalla Hills. A CDA spokesperson said Islamabad Water Director General Sardar Khan Zimri is supervising the project, while Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi and Sohail Ashraf are overseeing the wider push to increase the city’s water.
A small fix for a big gap
The new dam will help, but it will not end Islamabad’s water problem on its own. The CDA supplies about 70 million gallons a day from Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam and tubewells, against a need of roughly 220 million gallons, Daily Times reported in January.
That means the city gets less than a third of the water it needs. Shahdara Dam would raise current supply by 7% to 14%. Even at its best, 10 million gallons a day would cover less than a tenth of the shortfall.
Still, it is a new source. Dawn reported back in 2021 that no new dam had been built for Islamabad in almost three decades, leaving the city with only Simly Dam, Khanpur Dam and tubewells.
Years of delay
The project has been on paper for a long time. The CDA board approved Shahdara and a second small dam, Chinot, in 2021, but said it still needed federal funds to begin.
Progress came this year. The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) finished a study checking whether the dam could be built and shared it with the CDA in February. That study found the Shahdara site well suited for a dam. The project was approved in January at an estimated cost of Rs. 4 billion, according to Daily Times. The CDA will also need to buy more than 30 acres of land for it, Dawn reported in September.
Four small dams, 100 wells
Shahdara is part of a wider plan. The CDA also wants to build four check dams at the foot of the Margalla Hills, near D-12, Shah Allah Ditta and Saidpur. Check dams are small walls built across streams to slow down rainwater. Bids for these have not been invited yet.
The authority also plans 100 recharge wells. These let rainwater soak back into the ground to raise underground water levels and cut waste. This matters because many homes in the city depend on tubewells and boreholes.
Two bigger projects are further away. Chinot Dam is planned in the area that feeds Simly Dam, and Dotara Dam in the area that feeds Khanpur Dam. In 2024, CDA officials said Shahdara and Chinot together could supply 26 million gallons a day.
