Murad reiterates commitment to K-IV
Since 70% of civil work is complete, requests to Nespak to expedite third-party review may be made, says CM
Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah. PHOTO: PPP
KARACHI:
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that he is committed to the completion of Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, K-IV project, for which he is working hard to arrange funds and waiting for the Nespak report on design verifications.
This he said on Saturday evening in a meeting to review the status of the project. The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Local Government Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah, Local Government Special Secretary Niaz Soomro, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director (MD) Asadullah Khan and K-IV Project Director Asad Zamin.
The CM was informed that K-IV was designed to ensure the provision of 660 million gallons per day (MDG) of water to Karachi in three phases.
In phase-I it will be able to provide 260 MGD, in phase-II 260 MGD, and phase-III 130 MGD which is to be completed by 2022-26.
The phase-I contract was awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in 2016 for Rs28.187 billion. The project was to be completed in packages within a period of 24 months. The package-A of civil work was signed at Rs15.254 billion and package-B of electrical and mechanical works was signed for Rs12.9 billion.
The K-IV is a three-phased scheme of channels or conduits or rather conveyance system, designed to transport water from Keenjhar Lake to Karachi. During the fiscal year 2015-16 it was realised that even if phase-I of K-IV project was completed, it would not provide any benefit to the people of the city as there would not be enough electricity to pump and supply the water, meaning there was no connection of bulk channel with the distribution network. Moreover, more than 120km conveyance system was being laid, passing through a variable terrain as well as a highway and there were no bridges and culverts, etc. or provision of colonies for the personnel working there. Therefore, the Sindh government decided on ancillary and supplementary components.
‘Deletion of Sindh’s schemes a scheme against the people’
These include K-IV road and pedestrian bridges, staff colonies, fencing workshop, etc. The augmentation plan included connecting three filters of K-IV project with existing Bulk Water Supply system of KWSB through three augmentation pipelines, one at Pipri, one at NEK and the third one at COD, at a cost of Rs18.679 billion.
The third component was the installation of 50 MW power plant to operate two pumping stations of K-IV. This would be installed on a public-private partnership (PPP) modality.
The CM was also informed that the FWO had proposed the construction of 650 MGD conveyance system on the current alignment of the on-going 260 MGD conveyance system as a one-time activity instead of three separate canals in three phases.
According to FWO, this would result in long-term cost savings and construction of the second and third phases would be difficult due to blasting issues. This required a massive increase in the cost and scope and delay in time. Therefore, the provincial cabinet in its meeting in February, 2019 decided to conduct third-party review through Nespak to vet the existing design and hydraulic model of the proposed 650 MGD, as well as confirm availability of additional water before moving the case for revision of PC-I.
Murad said that since 70% of the civil work had been completed, necessary requests might be made to Nespak to expedite the third-party review for timely completion of the project.
He said that K-I, K-II and K-III were completed in a period of 20 years, now this too had taken a long time. While PC-I was approved in 2014 and work on the project began in 2016. "We are committed to the people of Karachi and all bottlenecks would be removed to ensure the project is completed," he vowed.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2019.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that he is committed to the completion of Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, K-IV project, for which he is working hard to arrange funds and waiting for the Nespak report on design verifications.
This he said on Saturday evening in a meeting to review the status of the project. The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Local Government Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah, Local Government Special Secretary Niaz Soomro, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director (MD) Asadullah Khan and K-IV Project Director Asad Zamin.
The CM was informed that K-IV was designed to ensure the provision of 660 million gallons per day (MDG) of water to Karachi in three phases.
In phase-I it will be able to provide 260 MGD, in phase-II 260 MGD, and phase-III 130 MGD which is to be completed by 2022-26.
The phase-I contract was awarded to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) in 2016 for Rs28.187 billion. The project was to be completed in packages within a period of 24 months. The package-A of civil work was signed at Rs15.254 billion and package-B of electrical and mechanical works was signed for Rs12.9 billion.
The K-IV is a three-phased scheme of channels or conduits or rather conveyance system, designed to transport water from Keenjhar Lake to Karachi. During the fiscal year 2015-16 it was realised that even if phase-I of K-IV project was completed, it would not provide any benefit to the people of the city as there would not be enough electricity to pump and supply the water, meaning there was no connection of bulk channel with the distribution network. Moreover, more than 120km conveyance system was being laid, passing through a variable terrain as well as a highway and there were no bridges and culverts, etc. or provision of colonies for the personnel working there. Therefore, the Sindh government decided on ancillary and supplementary components.
‘Deletion of Sindh’s schemes a scheme against the people’
These include K-IV road and pedestrian bridges, staff colonies, fencing workshop, etc. The augmentation plan included connecting three filters of K-IV project with existing Bulk Water Supply system of KWSB through three augmentation pipelines, one at Pipri, one at NEK and the third one at COD, at a cost of Rs18.679 billion.
The third component was the installation of 50 MW power plant to operate two pumping stations of K-IV. This would be installed on a public-private partnership (PPP) modality.
The CM was also informed that the FWO had proposed the construction of 650 MGD conveyance system on the current alignment of the on-going 260 MGD conveyance system as a one-time activity instead of three separate canals in three phases.
According to FWO, this would result in long-term cost savings and construction of the second and third phases would be difficult due to blasting issues. This required a massive increase in the cost and scope and delay in time. Therefore, the provincial cabinet in its meeting in February, 2019 decided to conduct third-party review through Nespak to vet the existing design and hydraulic model of the proposed 650 MGD, as well as confirm availability of additional water before moving the case for revision of PC-I.
Murad said that since 70% of the civil work had been completed, necessary requests might be made to Nespak to expedite the third-party review for timely completion of the project.
He said that K-I, K-II and K-III were completed in a period of 20 years, now this too had taken a long time. While PC-I was approved in 2014 and work on the project began in 2016. "We are committed to the people of Karachi and all bottlenecks would be removed to ensure the project is completed," he vowed.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2019.