Hyderabad Mayor Kashif Ali Shoro presented on Thursday water supply and drainage schemes worth around Rs69 billion before a delegation of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), seeking the international financial institution's funding for an array of these projects.
The proposed schemes require Rs22.538 billion funds for the water supply component and Rs47.283 billion for the sewerage.
The ADB delegation included the unit head urban programmes Mian Shaukat Shafi, Sara Azfar, Okju Jeong and Mohsen Islam Khan. The mayor was assisted by Deputy Commissioner Zainul Abedin Memon, Municipal Commissioner Zahoor Ahmed Lakhan and chief executive officer of Hyderabad Water and Sewerage Corporation (HW&SC) Tufail Abro.
"Investment in improving the urban infrastructure is the need of the time," the mayor underlined, adding that assistance from the IFI could be crucial for undertaking that development. He pointed out that the existing water filtration plants are insufficient keeping in view the rapidly growing population of the city which is estimated between 2.5 to three million people. According to him, thousands of people visit Hyderabad from the neighbouring cities on a daily basis.
He acknowledged that water shortage problem existed in the city owing to which the people are compelled to use brackish subsoil water. Ironically, Hyderabad is surrounded by the Indus River and three lakes, yet residents still face a water shortfall.
The mayor also admitted that the sewerage poodles are destroying asphalt roads in Hyderabad. He drew the ADB's attention towards the developing master plan of the city which he claimed is trying to holistically address the development and infrastructure issues.
The presentation given to the delegation about water supply related projects including proposals for building four new filtration plants of six million gallons per day (MGD) capacity each. These rapid gravity plants in Kohsar, New Hyderabad City, Tando Jam and Hatri are estimated to cost Rs2.428 billion, Rs3.096 billion, Rs6.3 billion and Rs3.695 billion, respectively.
The procurement of machinery and equipment for the existing plants also required funding of Rs5.5 billion while the laying of four-inch to 32-inch-diameter pipelines in the areas in seven Town Municipal Corporations (TMCs) will cost Rs5.1 billion.
Likewise, massive injection of funds has been sought for laying drainage lines in the city. However, it seems the authorities have disregarded the necessity of sewerage treatment plants as untreated wastewater is being dumped with impunity in the river and the canals.
Another amount of Rs5.94 billion will be spent on laying a 12-kilometre-long drain from Hyderabad bypass to Northern Sewerage Treatment Plant (NSTP). The construction of sump wells, pump houses and sewer lines of 12-inch to 48-inch-diameter will cost Rs7.45 billion in the all nine TMCs.
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