Right of ownership stuck in the pipeline

The dispute over the administrative control of the city’s pre-stressed pipe factory, which is manufacturing pipes for water and sewerage utilities, stands unresolved while the factory has become the victim of authorities’ lack of interest, thus shrouding the whole issue in mystery from the past few years.
The pre-stressed pipe factory, situated on Stadium Road, was formed in 1958 for manufacturing pipes for the then Water Wing of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) to supply pipes to water projects throughout the city.
After the formation of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), all water related facilities were handed over to the water board, except the pipe factory, for reasons best known to the then administration, Pakistan Today has reliably learnt.
Interestingly, in 2011 the Sindh government had clearly instructed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to hand over the affairs of the pipe factory over to the management of the KWSB as the KDA had nothing to do with the factory, sources told Pakistan Today.
However, the KMC authorities were of the view that under the Sindh Local Government Ordinance (SLGO) 1979, no function was assigned to the KWSB to manufacture pipes and the factory had never been treated as an integral part of the water utility.
Per details, the KWSB had written a letter to the KMC administrator stating that the KDA pipe factory was an integral part of water supply system. The water utility was of the view that the pipe factory slipped out by error from the inventory of assets, which were transferred from the KDA to the KWSB, while adding that the factory was logically to be transferred to the KWSB in 1984 when the water wing of the KDA was segregated.
In response, the KMC administrator stated that the KDA had been running the pipe factory on commercial basis to generate revenue and a lot of improvement was made at the time when the defunct City District Government Karachi (CDGK) was active in order to increase the production and quality of pipes being manufactured in various sizes.
It further stated that the factory was owned by the KMC and ever since it belonged to the KDA, the factory had never been treated as an integral part of the water supply system transferred to the KWSB nor manufacturing of pipes had ever been the function of the water board.
The letter further stated that the KWSB was established by an amendment in SLGO 1979 through Sindh Ordinance –II of 1983 read with Notification No S Leg 1(2)/83 dated 25th January 1983, stated that the functions assigned to the KWSB under the said Ordinance did not include manufacturing of pipes, adding that the inventory of moveable/ immoveable properties including all water works and installations etc was prepared in accordance with Sub-Section (2) (i) of Section 147 of SLGO 1979.
The sources said the KWSB Managing Director Misbahuddin Farid had time and again pleaded that the pipe factory and its land should be handed over to the KWSB as it was part of the defunct KDA water wing, and no one else but the water utility should get it back for meeting the requirement of the city`s existing pipeline network but also for the city`s vital K-IV project.
The KWSB chief had moved an ambitious plan for making the pipe factory economically viable and his proposal of converting the sick factory into a profit-making organisation included manufacturing of manhole covers and drinking water bottles besides pipes required for the K-IV project as well as for replacing the outlived and obsolete pipes of the utility`s existing water and sewerage network.
When contacted, the KWSB MD Misbah told Pakistan Today that the pipe factory must be handed over to the water utility as it could be further transformed into a profitable organisation besides it would also help the water board in future mega projects as well. “The KDA has nothing to do with the pipe factory and it was expected that the factory could become a white elephant if it was not managed properly,” he added.