KARACHI, Feb 3: The Sindh government has decided to revive all abandoned water supply schemes and reactivate the inoperative ones for which an amount of Rs1.6 billion has already been allocated in the current budget as part of the measures aimed at overcoming the problem of water shortage in the province.

The decision was taken at recent meeting held at the Sindh Secretariat with Chief Secretary Fazl-ur-Rehman in the chair.

The chief secretary observed that the move had become necessary in view of the persisting shortage of potable and irrigation water

Regarding the survey of water supply and sanitation schemes being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS), the chief secretary said it was aimed at quantifying the contribution such schemes towards the national economy.

The data pertaining to this sector would be of great importance and would help bring out improvement, besides rebasing the national account series 2006-07.

He asked Secretary Local Government Aftab Ahmad Memon to take necessary steps for ensuring the timely completion of the survey. He also fixed another meeting on the subject for next week to ascertain progress on the work for the identification of the abandoned schemes so that a comprehensive strategy could be chalked out to revive them.

DCO Hyderabad was also directed to present a report to a committee tasked with saving the Manchhar Lake from pollution.

The chief secretary directed local government department to ensure timely repair of all filter plants installed in the province.