SC seeks details of sewage treatment plant’s installation

KWSB tells court that a four-acre plot allotted for the plant has been occupied by 'land grabbers'

KARACHI: The Supreme Court sought on Wednesday details from the Sindh chief secretary about the installation of a plant to treat the sewage water draining into the sea.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Ameer Hani Muslim, heard the long-running environmental pollution case at the apex court's Karachi Registry. During the hearing, an official of the Karachi Sewerage and Water Board (KWSB) said that a four-acre plot allotted for the installation of the treatment plant had been occupied by 'land grabbers'.

The plant was part of the KW&SB's project, S-III, which was supposed to increase the water supply in the city and reduce the untreated sewage water flowing into the sea. However, the project lingers on citing different reasons.

Deputy attorney-general Aslam Butt, who represented the federal government, maintained that an uninterrupted supply of funds was given to the province from the centre, but all in vain.

The S-III project was supposed to be completed with the centre and the province sharing the funds. The province never spent the amount on the project, alleged Butt, saying that despite having been given more than Rs7 billion, the project could not be completed in time.

Justice Jamali remarked that the provincial government was busy with its own problems and did not have time for anything else. The bench observed that a detailed report over the use of funds allocated for the project needed to be reviewed and ordered the chief secretary to appear with it on the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2015.