Utility tangles: Water board calls first board meeting in 3 years

All decisions taken during this period have to be approved by the KWSB.

KARACHI: The acting chairman of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has called the first meeting of its board of directors in three years.

Chairman Haji Munawwar Ali Abbasi said he called for a meeting in the first week of January 2011. Since this is the first meeting in three years, all decisions taken during this period have to be approved by the board.

The many problems faced by the KWSB include a financial crunch, delay in salaries, outstanding bills and damage to infrastructure. The recovery of outstanding dues from residential consumers, bulk water consumers in the corporate sector and from cooperative housing societies has been below 50 per cent.

“Next summer will be devastating for Karachi when it comes to its water supply, unless KWSB manages to solve its financial and operational issues,” Abbasi told The Express Tribune. The former nazims of the city had failed to improve the water bulk lines at the River Indus channel, from where the city gets its water.

In reply to a question, he said that that in 2007 and 2008 thousands of new people were recruited to the water board. The KWSB, however, was unable to support and finance these new employees, which is why this year there have been delays in the disbursement of salaries.

Abbasi said there used to be two additional vice-chairmen (AVC) during the tenure of the former city nazim, but now there are four AVC. “There is no constitutional capacity for these vice-chairmen and they do not have any powers to direct KWSB officials. But due to the government’s ‘reconciliation policy’, this matter has been overlooked,” he added.

He said the provincial government appointed him as the acting chairman just last month, so he has only managed to summon a meeting of the board of directors now. The purpose of the meeting is to review the water board’s progress and its accounts so that they can get to the bottom of problems and tackle corruption.

Illegal water hydrants

The KWSB has allowed selective contractors to keep 21 KWSB-owned water hydrants running. In order to overcome complaints about a shortage of water to different localities, the KWSB had cancelled tenders for 21 legal hydrants twice and after inviting tenders for the third time, the case was referred to the KWSB evaluation committee so they could figure out who to give the tenders to and at what cost. The evaluation committee has yet to finish its work and submit the final report to the higher authorities for the renewal of the contracts.

The acting chief engineer bulk and in-charge of hydrants, Iftikhar, told The Express Tribune that 21 KWSB-owned hydrants have been allowed to operate on a Standard Operational Process basis.

He said that despite the water board’s campaign, more than 100 illegal hydrants are still operating in the city with the help of certain town municipal administration personnel and police of the areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.