With the monsoon season just a few months away, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has awarded the silt cleaning (bhal safai) of Nullah Leh’s contract worth Rs30 million to a company.
The agency awarded the silt cleaning contract of Nullah Leh from Katarian Bridge to Rialto Chowk to Giap Con Company. Heavy machinery will be used from next week to clean the drain and restore the depth and remove soil and other materials that obstruct the flow of water.
The water flow in Nullah Leh will be restored according to the 100-year-old design to protect low-lying areas from inundation due to flooding in the monsoon season.
WASA Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood said that the process of cleaning would continue even during the monsoon so that the biggest tidal wave of water entering Nullah Leh from Islamabad could fall into the Sawan River in minimum time without flooding the low-lying areas. He added that the water level should also not rise above the limit while passing through the Nullah Leh.
Meanwhile, WASA has also started the process ofp cleaning 14km long sewerage lines in the city.
Around 5km of these sewerage lines have been cleaned, while the task of speedy completion of cleaning of the remaining 9km of sewerage lines has been delegated to the Sewerage Directorate.
During the last tenure, the project of Nullah Leh Expressway and Flood Channel, which had been delayed for 17 years, was once again conditionally approved by the ECNEC forum, indicating that funds for land acquisition would be provided by the government.
Read WASA begins cleaning of drains before monsoon
However, for the expected funding of Rs100 billion, a private party will make the investment. Keeping in view the decision, the search for a private party was going on and the term of the government ended before time.
Meanwhile, WASA launched a crackdown against defaulters and disconnected 22 water connections over non-payment of dues.
WASA spokesman Umer Farooq said that the water recovery cell of the agency headed by the Director Revenue Irfan Ahmed, on the directives of Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mehmood, carried out a drive against non-payers in the area of Commercial market, 7th road, Chandani Chowk, Raja Bazaar, and Mohanpura and recovered an amount of Rs700,000 from the defaulters.
Farooq said that 11 motor pumps were also confiscated while notices were issued to 40 defaulters on the assurance of paying the dues within a month. He said the all-out efforts were made to ensure timely water and sanitation bills were delivered to consumers and urged the users to pay their bills in time to avoid any inconvenience.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2022.
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