Meeting called in Lahore to discuss K-IV project

A meeting on the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) has been called in Lahore, Geo News reported on Wednesday.

The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has asked the Sindh government to allot land for the project to expedite the work. "We cannot waste more time in the bureaucratic process."

Sources said it was decided that the project, with a capacity of 650 million gallons (MGD) of water, will now be completed in a single go. It was initially planned to complete the project in three phases - a capacity of 260 MGD of water in the first and second phases, while the third would have the capacity of 130 MGD.

A 75-kilometre canal has already been built to accommodate the project.

The project

Karachi’s rapid urbanisation, unchecked population growth, and increased industrialisation have multiplied its water woes, as each new government has made the K-IV project part of its package announcements.

The recent setback is bound to further escalate the cost of the project and increase delays.

The K-IV Project envisages supplying 260 MGD of water to Karachi in Phase-I, which was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at a revised cost of Rs25.552 billion for supplying 260 MGD of water to Karachi metropolitan.

Under the financing mechanism approved by the ECNEC, the cost of the project was shared by the federal and provincial governments based on 50/50 per cent cost-sharing ratio.

The project was earlier being undertaken by the Sindh government. However, the federal government, under an arrangement with the provincial government, has now taken up its implementation as part of the Prime Minister’s Package for Karachi.

Two weeks ago, the federal government gave WAPDA the responsibility to take over the implementation of the municipal infrastructure project.

Last week, WAPDA halted the K-IV project after finding serious technical issues in its design, route, and functionality, and stressed that the project could not proceed without resolving the problems.

The development came after WAPDA Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Muzammil Hussain visited the site with seasoned engineers, project advisors, general managers for coordination and monitoring water, check its central design, hydro planning, and South projects.