KARACHI: People being overcharged for water, says nazim: World Water Day
By Azizullah Sharif
KARACHI, March 22: City Nazim Niamatullah Khan, who is also chairman of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, said on Tuesday that those minting money through water trade were causing heavy losses to both the water utility and the consumers.
Though the domestic consumers indulging in water thefts could be excused to some extent as it was the responsibility of the KWSB to supply water to them after regularising their illegal connections, earning unduly through water business at the cost of genuine consumers could not be pardoned.
He was speaking as the chief guest at a seminar held to mark the World Water Day at the KWSB Training Centre.
“Isn’t it unjust that a 1,000-gallon tanker filled for only Rs73 at a hydrant is sold at Rs250 to Rs300,” he said, adding that: “Once the KWSB gets its hydrants back (from the Rangers), we will ensure that the tankers drawing water from the KWSB hydrants are sold at a much reduced rates.”
Referring to the KWSB plan of setting up a desalination plant at Bin Qasim, he said that people might be surprised to know that 1,000 gallons of water to be produced by the desalination plant would cost Rs120 whereas a tanker having the same quantity was being sold for up to Rs300.
Elaborating, he said a memorandum of understanding for setting up a desalination plant, having a capacity of 50 million gallons per day, had already been signed with a firm of California and a final agreement in this regard would be signed soon.
Expressing his gratitude to President Gen Pervez Musharraf for taking keen interest in getting completed the K-3 water project, he said though the project whereby the city would get additional 100 million gallons of water daily would be completed in June 2006, there would be a shortfall of 150mgd. This he attributed to the city’s five per cent rate of growth -– 2.5 per cent local growth and 2.5 per cent of people coming in from other parts of the country -– as compared to the 2.5 per cent population growth of other cities of the country.
He said that keeping in view the city’s rapid population increase, the KWSB had already begun planning for another 100mgd project to be known as K-4.
Admitting that over 30 per cent of water was wasted to leaks, he said the city’s pipelines’ network which had already outlived their life were required to be replaced.
Underscoring the need for setting up more and more treatment plants, he said a MoU had already been signed with an Austrian firm for treating sewage which would be supplied to the industries of SITE.
Deploring that an amount of Rs140 million was being paid to the KESC every month under the head of electricity charges, he said the KWSB’s managing director’s initiative of setting up the KWSB’s own 35 megawatt power generating plant at Dhabeji would help save a considerable amount under the head of energy charges.
Criticising the KESC for charging exorbitant electricity rates from the KWSB, he said though the power utility organisation off and on disconnected power of the KWSB offices on account of non-payment of electricity bills despite the fact that the KESC itself had set its offices and grid stations on the CDGK’s land and thus owed Rs2 billion to the city government under the head of land-use charges.
Besides, he said, the CDGK’s prime land of Elander Road had been in the KESC’s possession for the last 50 years. “The CDGK is nowadays making an exercise to calculate the exact amount of rent of the CDGK’s land situated on Elender Road, so that the KESC was charged accordingly,” he added.
Describing water as a precious and scarce commodity, he said future wars between nations would be fought over the issue of water.
He said the importance of water could be gauged from the fact that although Pakistan and India were now having better relations, the later was not willing to compromise on the issue of Baglihar dam.
Referring to the proposed Kalabagh dam, he suggested that engineers from Muslim countries should be invited to Pakistan to seek their advice in this regard instead of fighting among ourselves over the issue.
He was, however, of the opinion that a firm decision whether the Kalabagh dam should be built or not must be taken forthwith.
Speaking on the occasion, KWSB managing director Brig Iftikhar Haider said that if immediate measures were not taken to remove encroachments from the KWSB reserved land and installations, the KWSB’s future plan of expansion would suffer a lot.
He made a passionate appeal to consumers to ensure that their water charges bills were paid promptly so that the KWSB might not face any difficulty in providing better service to them.
Nazims of Jamshed and Gulshan towns, Ahmed Qasim Parekh and Abdul Wahab, respectively, also spoke on the occasion.
