ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: The federal government has accepted Sindh’s request to raise the cost of the Extension of Right Bank Outfall Drainage Project from Rs14 billion to Rs29.2 billion but advised it to give the work to the Frontier Works Organization.
Official sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the Sindh government had agreed to give the work to the FWO and execute the project with the support and monitoring by the army engineering crops.
The main objective of the project is to dispose the saline effluent coming from upper Sindh and Balochistan province into sea and save the Manchar Lake and the area under Kotri Barrage command from contamination by the effluent.
The centre also advised the Sindh government to ‘take action’ against the contractors for delaying the project.
The proposed drain network is being laid in Dadu and Thatta districts of Sindh province.
The RBOD-II is being constructed to discharge 2,271 cusecs and new structures are being constructed to discharge 3,515 cusecs. The drain section will have to be enlarged for the additional discharge of 1,254 cusecs.
Drain lining, not included in the original PC-1, has been provided due to a narrow strip, proximity to river, canals and lake, sharp curves and rocky areas.
The provision for flood protection works in the original PC-1 was inadequate. A substantial length of the RBOD will pass through riverine area. Accordingly, the revised embankment of the drain has been designed as per the Bund Manual. Moreover, along the length of the RBOD passing through the bank of the River Indus, stone apron has been provided.
The Sindh government has informed the centre that the cost of structures, earlier based on preliminary drawings, had been updated on the basis of the feasibility report. Likewise, the cost of land acquisition had also been revised on the basis of the payment made.
The project was originally approved by the ECNEC on Aug 31, 2001, at a cost of Rs14 billion but the planning and development division declared the cost as underestimated.
An amount of Rs2.88 billion was utilized by December 2005 with 34.42 per cent progress on the project.
The final cost of the project will be worked out by a technical committee and the sponsors, the federal ministry of water and power and irrigation and power department of Sindh.
