No end to water woes as K-IV hits another snag

With three associated projects still pending, tanker mafia's illegal activities have created artificial water crisis

Listen to article

KARACHI:

The water crisis has been plaguing most areas of Karachi for years. The city, which is supplied 650 million gallons of water per day from two sources, the Indus River and the Hub Dam, has a daily requirement of 1200 million gallons. Yet even after the passage of nearly two decades, the shortage of 550 million gallons could not be addressed.

Launched in 2016 under the supervision of the Sindh government and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), the K-IV project set out to supply 260 million gallons per day of water to Karachi. In 2021, the federal government took over the project, handing it over to the Water and Power Development Agency (WAPDA). Under the new plan, its cost reached Rs126 billion, and construction was to be completed by December 2025.

According to WAPDA's General Manager South and the Project Director of K-IV Aamir Mughal, thus far 55 per cent of the work on K-IV has been completed however, due to power supply issues and other reasons, the project's completion has been delayed to June 2026, with its cost likely to be increased by 20 per cent due to the high cost of materials," said Mughal.

As per sources of the Express Tribune at WAPDA, even if this important project is completed in time, the citizens will not benefit from the additional supply of water since the three other projects associated with the K-IV are still stuck in limbo. While one project is under construction and will be completed in two years, work on the other two has not even started.

The most important of these is the Augmentation Plan, which involves the construction of an underground pipeline of K-IV from Keenjhar Lake to the Kathore area of Karachi, after which a system of bulk lines for the inner city, spanning about 100 kilometres, will be established. This project will be completed in two years.

The second project, the construction of a power station, involves a 132 KV transmission line that will be installed from the Jhampir Grid Station to the K-IV pumping complex near Keenjhar Lake, enabling the pumping complex to supply 50 MW of electricity. The construction work on the project will start soon and will be completed by December 2025.

Likewise, the Kalri Baghar (KB) Feeder Lining Project, involves the cleaning and expansion of a 38-mile long canal that supplies water to the Keenjhar Lake. This will remove any obstructions in the flow of 260 million gallons per day from the Indus River to Keenjhar Lake. This project too will be completed in two years.

Dr Syed Nawaz Al-Huda, a regional planner, was of the opinion that the Sindh government should be held accountable for the delay in the construction of the power plant, installation of bulk lines and the KB Feeder Lining Project. "Even if the federal government completes the K-IV project on time, water might not be available since the Sindh administration has deliberately delayed resolving the water crisis. Where water projects continue to face delays, executive engineers have strengthened the dirty business of the tanker mafia by creating an artificial crisis in posh and middle-class areas, due to which people are forced to buy tankers at high prices," confirmed Al-Huda.

According to a survey conducted by The Express Tribune, the connivance of the top officials of the KWSC with the tanker mafia has created an artificial water crisis in the city, which is particularly affecting areas like Clifton, Defence, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 13D-2 and 13D-3, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, Liaquatabad and the Pakistan Employees Cooperative Housing Society (P.E.C.H.S) among other areas.

The Express Tribune tried contacting the Secretary of Irrigation Zarif Khedro to confirm the news concerning the delay in the completion of K-IV, but he chose not to respond.