KARACHI:Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Karachi is receiving 600 Million gallons of water Per Day against a demand of 1200 MGD which shows a shortfall of 600 MGD.
“With the fast-growing pace of urbanization in Karachi, this demand and supply gap would continue to grow, and offsetting of such demand would purely be dependent upon successful and timely completion of the K-IV project which is planned to be completed in three phases of total 650 MGD.”
This he said while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project known as K-IV here at CM House. The CM said that Karachi city has a demand of 1200 MGD water per day against which the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board is providing approximately 600 MGD from two sources combined Hub Dam and the Keenjhar Lake (Indus River) which means there is a shortfall of around 600 MGD.
Mr. Shah said that the K-IV Phase- I with a capacity of 260 MGD was being executed by WAPDA and would be completed in 2025 provided that a smooth flow of funds was ensured by all stakeholders. “Federal government has to provide Rs113 billion from PSDP, however, it has been learned that the project is facing cashflow issues with respect to critical activities and there is an apprehension that the project may get delayed due to schedule overruns causing an increased cost as well,” he said and added “we all know the current economic constraints, yet K-IV Project deserves the special commitment of funds, as it shall bring great relief to the city of Karachi – mini Pakistan.
Murad Shah said that the Sindh government has taken responsibility to execute the K-IV augmentation project. He added that the K-IV mainstream project could not become successful until Augmentation work was completed.
Murad Shah said The CM said that the scope of the augmentation project started from the three reservoirs (R1, R2, and R3) built by WAPDA to the respective nodal points in the heart of the city. He added that all federal and provincial land-owning agencies have to play an active role in registering their ownership for the K-IV project. He reiterated the commitment of his government to dovetail the augmentation project with the K-IV mainstream, for which the PC-I to the tune of Rs. 52 billion has already been submitted to the Ministry of Planning Government of Pakistan for seeking approval from CDWP and ECNEC.
Mr. Shah said that the Sindh government was fully cognizant of the growing water demand and, therefore, has started exploring other sources of Water availability in Karachi. “Projects are being conceived under Public Private Partnership for recycling wastewater to provide industrial-grade water to the Industrial Zones in Karachi,” he said and added that we were also determined to install Sea Water Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) Plants in Karachi on a pilot basis at two different locations.
The CM urged the prime minister to consider committing matching funds to the greenfield projects of recycling wastewater and seawater desalination plants in Karachi in PSDP 2023-2024.
He urged the Prime Minister to kindly pass specific directions to the Planning Division so that urgent approval may be sought from the respective fora on K-IV Augmentation Project within a stipulated timeline.
He vowed to extend his full support to the federal government and WAPDA in the smooth execution of the K-IV Phase-I project (260 MGD) and after conducting the assessment for subsequent future phases.