More than one and half years have elapsed but the federal government is yet to release Rs 2.4 billion it had allocated in fiscal year 2010-11 to be used in Karachi for the refurbishing of the flyovers like Jam Sadique Bridge which, the city administrator on Thursday warned, if not repaired would collapse sooner than later. Also, the irregularities committed by the so-called tanker mafia caused this metropolis a daily water shortage of 400 million gallon that, the water board official said, had forced them to reduce the number of tankers from 14,000 to 6,000 in the city.
“The Rs 2.4 billion federal package allocated in FY11 for the reconstruction of the bridge has still not been materialised. This is highhandedness against Sindh,” KMC Administrator Muhammad Hussain Syed told the provincial Public Account Committee (PAC) on Thursday.
The committee gathered here at Sindh assembly building to scrutinise draft paras of the Karachi district for FY12 under the chairmanship of Saradr Jam Tamachi Unar who gave more time to the city administration which appeared ill-prepared for Thursday’s proceedings of the PAC. The provincial watchdog was to review the financial accounts of the city institutions like Karachi Development Authority (KDA), Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). “They were not ready so we gave them more time,” Tamachi told this reporter on sidelines of the meeting.
According to PAC member Haji Mujaddi Ali Isran, the heads of the city instructions wanted an adjournment from the PAC as none of them had done their homework to satisfy the committee. “They said they were to conduct an internal pre-PAC meeting,” said Isran.
Earlier, when asked about condition of flyovers in the city, KMC Administrator Muhammad Hussain Syed told the PAC that whereas other flyovers were in a sound condition the Jam Sadique Bridge was in an extremely dilapidated condition. “If not refurbished now it can collapse anytime,” he warned. Syed said his side lacked the funds required to accomplish the reconstruction work as the federal government’s Rs 2.4 billion budgeted in FY11 for the purpose were yet to be released. He said at least Rs 500 million were urgently required to repair the said bridge which remains congested with at least 60 heavy vehicles like tankers.
He said he had written letters to the chief minister and governor that the bridge could ground anytime. He said tenders had already been issued for the repair of other bridges in the city.
KWSB Managing Director Misbahuddin Farid told the meeting that the city was facing a shortage of 400 million gallons on a daily basis mainly because of the irregularities and corruption committed by the most-referred “taker mafia”.
Therefore, he said, he had cut down the number of water tankers from 14,000 to 6,000 as the vehicles were providing water to only the have ones and not the poor. Another major factor for water scarcity in the metropolis, he said, was the city population which over the recent years had increased remarkably. The DHA, Manzoor Colony, Korangi, Baldia Town were the neighborhoods which the KWSB MD said had seen phenomenal population growth. “We daily supply the city with 450 million gallons from the Indus River, but irregularities, favoritism and corruption by in the tanker fields maintain the shortage,” the MD lamented.
According to Misbahuddin, various projects like K III, K IV and S III were on various stages of progress to increase water availability in the city of millions. Accumulatively, he said when completed these projects would supply over 360 million gallon water to the city’s domestic, commercial and industrial consumers.
