KARACHI: Sindh and the federal governments have jointly constituted a technical committee to review the K-IV project’s technical report to be submitted by NESPAK by the end of current month so that work on the project could be started.
The NESPAK has estimated around Rs120billion cost of the K-IV project.
This decision was taken in a high-level meeting which was attended by Federal Minister for Planning & development Khusro Bakhtiar, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jahanzaib khan, Secretary Planning Zaffar Ahsan, Member Planning Commission Major Gen (retd) Zahir Shah here at CM House.
Governor Sindh Imran Ismail, Minister Local Government Syed Nasir Shah, Minister Labour Saeed Ghani. MD Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Asadullah Khan, PD K-IV Asad Zamin and others were present.
FWO DG Major General Inam Haider briefing the meeting said that the canal being constructed from Keenjhar Lake has a length of 121 kilometers. Out of 121 kilometers the canal would flow in gravity up to 91 km. The civil work of the canal has already been completed by 70 percent.
The dignitaries were told that there were some alignment issues on which NESPAK newded third party assessment.
NESPAK GM Jawaid Mir, Mirza Asif Baig and Mohammad Afzal who also represented NESPAK in the meeting said that they might suggest some modification in the existing alignment of the canal.
They said that they were conducting a geo study of the embankment of the canal whether they would be able to sustain the pressure of 660 MGD water. “We would complete the study by end of current month and then submit it to the provincial government.”
However, Federal Minister Khusro Bakhtiar said that the project which was at advanced stage needed another technical review by an expert team.
The chief minister suggested constituting a joint team of provincial Planning & Development Department and Planning Commission of the federal government to review the technicalities of the report to be submitted by the NESPAK. The participants of the meeting agreed to constitute a team which would be notified by the Federal Planning Commission.
The NESPAK said that the project would cost around Rs120 billion. However, the chief minister said that it would cost Rs150 billion because of the devaluation of the rupee against the dollar. Moreover, a 50-MW power plant has also been proposed for the project. The consultant has almost finalized the PC-I of the power project.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said that K-I and K-II/III had designed the capacity of 480 MGD which been reduced by 100 MGD due to silt and other technical issues. He proposed to conduct a separate study to improve the capacity of K-I and K-II/III projects.
Shah told the federal government representatives that water was the issue of life and death for this megalopolis city of Karachi. “We started K-IV so that it could be completed but over 15 years have passed to its planning and implementation and still it seems that it would take few years more,” he said.
Minister Planning & development Khusro Bakhtiar suggested installing desalination plants in the city to cater the urgent need of water but they would take two to three years in completion.
The chief minister said that his government was ready to install desalination plants in the city if the federal government extends financial support. The federal minister assured the chief minister of his support and urged him to submit the necessary proposal for approval.
