ISLAMABAD: The government has decided in principle to handover the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project (K-IV) to Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA).
Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar held a meeting to discuss progress on the K-IV on Thursday. MNA Najeeb Haroon, Chairman WAPDA Lt Gen (Retd) Muzammil Hussain, Chairman, P&D Government of Sindh, Ministry of Water Resources and senior officials attended the meeting.
Chairman WAPDA gave a detailed presentation on the project including its physical and financial progress, issues associated with the project and decisions required for implementation of the project under new arrangements
It was decided that a summary of the change of execution agency would be sent to Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) so that WAPDA could formally take over the project. In the meeting, WAPDA was given the go-ahead to hire a consultant as soon as possible to review the technical issues and give the go-ahead for the final decision on which the revised PC-1 will be made.
Sindh Government assured that the remaining land acquisitions would be completed as soon as possible.
The meeting emphasisd that there is a severe water shortage in Karachi and therefore the project needs to be carried out on a fast track and all the agencies involved are committed to fast track/ prioritising the project.
The K-IV project is designed to provide 650 million gallons of water daily to Karachi in three phases. The new water supply will be extracted from Keenjhar Lake through three water canals. The project was given approval in 2011 and was slated to be finished in 2019.
