KARACHI – The federal government has rebuffed the Sindh government’s pleas to release funds for the federally-funded Rs 29.20 billion scheme – the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) – and asked the province to arrange the money on its own due to the prevailing financial crunch.
Well-placed sources in the Irrigation Department told Pakistan Today that the project, scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008, was extended for two years until June 30, 2010, but the lack of funds from the Centre has left the scheme in cold storage for the last four years. Now, the federal authorities have asked the provincial government to arrange the funds itself for the completion of the RBOD as soon as possible.
The RBOD project was initiated by the previous government from Karampur in Sehwan Sharif to the Gharo Creek on the right side of the Indus River to release around 3,525 cusecs poisonous water from the Manchhar Lake into the Arabian Sea.
The federal government, however, only released 800 million out of the Rs 4 billion allocated in the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2008-09. Moreover, Rs 17 billion allocated in the PSDP 2009-10 for the RBOD were withheld citing economic crisis as the main reason; forcing the contractor Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) to stop the work in early 2009. The contractor firm has also moved away its heavy machinery from the site and it seems that the federal government wants to abandon the project worth billions of rupees.
The Sindh government has time and again urged the Centre to ensure the smooth release of the remaining funds for the project.
When the Irrigation and Power Department recently wrote to the federal government asking it to release funds, it was informed that the project’s completion date has been extended until 2012 and the provincial authorities should arrange for the remaining funds itself.
The Sindh government, meanwhile, has no funds available to ensure completion of such costly schemes launched by the federal government.
