Water wasted: University Road submerged as KWSB pipeline bursts

Karachi Water and Sewage Board official says repairs can take up to 72 hours

KARACHI: One of the city’s main thoroughfares, University Road, turned into a river on Saturday evening when a water supply line measuring 84 inches in diameter burst near Federal Urdu University at around 3pm.

Since one track of the dual carriageway was closed for traffic immediately, the road witnessed a severe traffic jam which spiralled onto other main roads in the vicinity.

“A team of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board [KWSB] engineers was working on the 40-year-old pipeline when it burst,” explained the water utility’s spokesperson, Nazir Mateen, while talking to The Express Tribune.

A view of the broken pipeline of water in Gulshan-e-Iqbal that burst causing inundation in nearby areas on December 12, 2015. PHOTO: ONLINE

 

Broadcast media showed footage of a large volume of water gushing out of the broken pipeline that eventually led to at least one-foot-deep water standing still on the main road.



“We have already started the repairs and have arranged all the necessary machinery [to fix this problem],” he said, assuring that it will take their team around 72 hours to repair the damages caused to the pipeline. Mateen added that they cut off water supply to the pipeline to minimise wastage and that they have started efforts to clear University Road of all the water.

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Meanwhile, senior officials of the KWSB, including managing director Misbahuddin Farid and some engineers, reached the site to monitor the situation, said Mateen.



The residents of the neighbouring Gulshan-e-Iqbal area are, however, worried that water wastage will create a shortage in their homes. “The water supply was suspended around the area soon after the pipeline burst,” claimed resident Jasim Shakeel.

However, KWSB’s PRO Mateen insisted there will be no shortage of water supply. “We have started supplying with alternative sources,” he said. Supply to the affected pipeline remained suspended until late into the evening.

Traffic gridlock

After one track of the University Road was closed for traffic so close to rush hour, a massive traffic jam resulted on its opposite lane. The gridlock further spiralled onto other main roads leading to University Road.

District East Traffic SP Qamar Rizvi blamed the management of the water board for delaying the repairs on the broken pipeline. “We have diverted the traffic coming from Nipa Chowrangi to Hasan Square towards Millennium Mall,” he said.

Traffic jam in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area of Karachi on December 12, 2015. PHOTO: MOHAMMAD NOMAN



Sharae Faisal protest

The situation was made worse by a protest taking place on Sharae Faisal, near Drigh Road. A group of people had staged a sit-in outside Sharae Faisal police station as they blamed the police for killing a man, Safeer, in a ‘fake’ encounter on Friday night.

The police refuted, however, these allegations and insisted that the man was a hardened criminal who was absconding in a number of cases. He was wanted in a murder case and was killed during a shootout, said Sharae Faisal police station duty officer, Abid.

The protest lasted over an hour and led to a traffic jam on both sides of the city’s main artery. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic from Malir 15 to Drigh Road Railway Station, and on the other track from the station to the Baloch Colony Flyover, said SP Rizvi.

The congestion worsened when traffic diverted from two parallel main roads come face to face on the link roads, he explained, adding that the situation was brought under control soon but the massive gridlock occurred as it was rush hours.

Fed up with the situation, many people stuck on the traffic jam took to social media to share their experience. Saquib Baqai posted on a Facebook group ‘Halaat Updates’ that it took him three hours from DHA to reach Karsaz and back. Similar ordeals were reported from Saddar, Liaquatabad, Azizabad, Guilstan-e-Jauhar and other areas. Many young men took it upon themselves to manage the traffic flow.