Rs7.65b earmarked for second-largest city of Sindh

Budget set to cater to many development projects in the pipeline

KARACHI: The Sindh government has allocated a sum of Rs7.65 billion for roads, water filtration, water supply, drainage, sewage treatment and solid waste collection and disposal projects in the province's second largest city, Hyderabad, for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

These allocations, comprising both the ongoing and unapproved schemes, have been made through the Sindh local government and works and services departments.

Through the local government department, a sum of Rs2.79b has been earmarked for schemes under completion. Another Rs3.09 billion has been proposed for a range of new projects. Similarly, the works and services department will get Rs1.15 billion for ongoing development works.



A Rs5.5b project for the construction of a new water filtration plant, equipped with a capacity of 100 million gallons per day (MGD) and with an outlay of Rs1.38b for the upcoming year has been put forward in the budget. The existing water filtration capacity of the district's five filtration plants has reduced to around 30MGD against the estimated demand which goes as high up as 70 to 75 MGDs in the summer. This demand is usually met by unfiltered or partially filtered water supply.

Another filtration plant has been planned for the Hussainabad area, with an expenditure of Rs800 million, for which Rs200 million will be released in the upcoming financial year.

The budget has also proposed four additional projects at a total cost of Rs725 million for the rehabilitation of a 30MGD filtration plant on Jamshoro Road, an old filtration plant on Jamshoro Road, the 8MGD Hala Naka plant and the 8MGD Paretabad plant in Hyderabad. If approved, a sum of Rs181 million will be released in 2017-18 for these schemes.



The rehabilitation of three sewage treatment plants, which remain dysfunctional since the project completion several years ago, has also been cited in the budget. Subject to the approval, the provincial government will release Rs187.5 million of the total rehabilitation cost of Rs750 million in 2017-18. Due to these non-functioning plants, untreated municipal and industrial sewage is dumped in the Indus River and Phuleli Canal, causing hazardous pollution.

The environmental and health hazardous practice of dumping as well as burning municipal and hospital solid waste in residential areas has continued in Hyderabad for decades in the absence of the designated solid waste management sites. The provincial budget has recommended a Rs904.5 million project for setting up three garbage transfer stations, for which Rs226 million will be spent after the budgetary sanction.

Another related projected is concerned with the feasibility study of hospital waste management, costing Rs21.85 million with the release of two-thirds of the allocated amount in 2017-18. For the sanitary landfill sites, Rs461 million has been earmarked, while Rs190 million is expected to be spent by June, 2018.



One of the slowly progressing mega projects in Hyderabad, the Qasimabad drainage scheme, has received an allocation of Rs827 million. This includes a Rs227 million allocation for its second phase, which has a total cost of Rs1.28b, and Rs600 million for its third phase, which has a total cost of Rs1.92 billion.

Health projects

In the health sector, the provincial government will spend Rs652 million in the next fiscal year for development projects. The establishment of a 30-bed paediatric intensive care unit with an allocation of Rs150 million for 2017-18 and a medical college with an allocation of Rs100 million of its total cost of Rs1.39 billion are two of the important projects included in the health budget.

For the setup of a cardiology unit at Qasimabad taluka hospital, a burns ward at Liaquat University Hospital and the rehabilitation of Sir CJ Institute of Psychiatry, sums of Rs50 million, Rs40 million and Rs30 million have been earmarked respectively.