On the back-burner : Insufficient allocation leads to further delays in CETP

After a delay of two years, Karachi’s Combined Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) for industrial waste treatment has been further hampered by red tape. In the budget for the 2020-21 financial year, the Sindh government has allocated only Rs50 million for the project - an amount insufficient for the project’s completion.

In the outgoing financial year, Rs2 billion had been allocated for the purpose but a few senior officials in the Sindh government did not agree with the decision. As a result, not a single penny was spent on the project, leading to undue delays.

The revised PC-I of the project estimated about Rs28 billion for its completion, but the amount has not yet been approved. Under the existing, approved PC-1 of the project, which costs Rs11.8 billion, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) had awarded tenders for three important works but they were cancelled because of objections raised by senior Sindh government officials.

Without the treatment plant, industrial waste containing highly toxic chemicals is being dumped into the sea, not only polluting the environment but also causing irreparable damage to marine life.

Under the 2019-20 fiscal year, the Sindh government decided to construct five CETP in Karachi and install sewerage lines in industrial areas. The approved PC-1 of the project estimated completion costs to be Rs11.8 billion, of which the share of the federal government was set at 33 per cent, while that of the provincial government was 67 per cent.

Under the project, 94 million gallons of industrial waste per day was planned to be treated before releasing it into the sea. Initially, the project was to be launched in August 2019 and its completion date was set for June 2021.

Sources said that last year, the KWSB awarded tenders to private companies for the construction of the transmission line and other works. The project was scheduled to start in August 2019, but the work order could not be issued to the private companies. What is more, the Sindh Industries Department halted the construction of the project, saying that the construction work would not begin until the project’s revised PC-1 was approved. Later on, the tenders were cancelled.

Meanwhile, an important meeting was held last year under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, during which it was decided to start the project under the public-private partnership unit of the Sindh Finance Department.

According to KWSB sources, meetings between the Sindh Industries Department, the KWSB, and the public-private partnership unit have been going on for the past eight months, but no concrete decisions have been made so far.

Providing details of the project, a KWSB official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2017, the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) had approved a project of five CETP in Karachi for which the share of the federal government was Rs3.8 billion, while the share of the provincial government was Rs7.9 billion.

“They said that this would be a megaproject in which the federal and provincial governments are taking special interest, while the Supreme Court has also directed that this project should be completed as soon as possible,” the official said. “However, the Sindh government does not appear to be serious about implementing development projects in Karachi. Just like the CETP, every megaproject is being made a victim of red tape by either putting it in the public-private partnership programme or by cutting funds.”

The Express Tribune tried to contact CETP project director Imtiazuddin to comment on the further delay of the project, but he did not respond to the calls.