KARACHI, March 14: Water supply to three towns - Baldia, Orangi and Site - will remain suspended for three consecutive days, starting Monday (March 15) on account of repair and development works.
The closure has been effected to facilitate plugging of leaking pipelines, passing through Banaras Chowk, and gearing up the long delayed improvement plan in the same locality. The KWSB has announced that water supply to the affected towns would be restored on March 18 through Indus source.
However, insiders were of the view that water supply position in all the three towns, as well as some other localities hooked to the Hub dam source, such as Metroville and Qasba, might not be normalized till the restoration of supply from the Hub dam source.
In fact, water from the Hub source would remain suspended from March 15 to 19 because the KWSB had decided to undertake the work of inter-connecting Manghopir pumping station's new rising main with the new old one during the period, in addition to the plugging work in Banaras Chowk area. As such, the insiders believed, water supply position of the localities hooked to the Hub source might not be normalized before March 20.
They also apprehended that water supply to the areas hooked to the Indus source could also be affected for two days (March 18 and 19) because a considerable quantity of Indus water would have to be diverted to the Hub-fed localities via Ajmair Nagri and Board Office pumping stations.
The KWSB has not identified the Indus-fed localities which would either receive a short or no water supply on the two days due to the repair and improvement work.
About the resumption work on Banaras Chowk improvement plan, which is likely to commence shortly after plugging of leakages of pipelines in the area, the CDGK sources said that as a matter of fact, redesigning of the roundabout vicinity had begun in August 2002 under the Khushhal Pakistan Programme at a cost of Rs46 million.
The plan was conceived in view of the requirements of a smooth flow of traffic amid ever-increasing population of Orangi, Qasba and Metroville areas. City Nazim Niamatullah Khan, during his recent visit to Banaras Chowk, had stressed on plugging leakages within three days so the redesigning and carpeting work at the roundabout and adjoining roads could be facilitated.
The nazim had ordered the concerned officials to ensure the resumption of improvement work as soon as the leakages were plugged. He had also directed them to complete the work within a fortnight.
