KARACHI, Feb 22: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board faced a major setback when it came to know that out of 465 acres earmarked for a sewage treatment plant project in Korangi some 16 years ago, 365 acres have been reportedly allotted to the Ibad Khan Trust and the Sindh Civil Servants’ Society.

Well-placed sources in the water board told Dawn that the utility had acquired 465 acres of land from the board of revenue to establish a sewage treatment plant in Deh Dih, Korangi, in 1992. However, the board officials were taken aback when the city government’s revenue department high-ups recently told them that 230 acres had been allotted to the Sindh Civil Servants’ Society, 135 acres to the Ibad Khan Trust and only 100 acres were in the name of the KWSB, according to the revenue record. Even a major chunk of the land, shown as the KWSB property in the revenue department’s record, was disputed, sources said.

In addition to the sewage treatment plant project, a major component of the Rs8 billion S-3 plan, which is aimed at treating the city’s 400 million gallons of domestic sewage for its safe disposal into the sea, two other vital projects -- industrial and domestic sewage combined sewage plant and reverse osmosis sewage plant -- were also planned to be established on the land allotted to the water board behind the Pakistan Refinery in Korangi.

However, the latest development has put in jeopardy the future of all three vital projects – sewage treatment plant, reverse osmosis plant of sewage and industrial and domestic sewage combined effluent plant.

S-3 plan was approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) and an initial amount of Rs1,500 million for setting up a combined industrial and domestic sewage treatment plant was already transferred to the Sindh government by the federal government on the orders of President Pervez Musharraf, the sources added.

According to the sources, the water utility had got allocated 465 acres of land in Deh Dih, Korangi, from the Sindh government for setting up the treatment plant in 1992. The board, however, could take over the physical possession of 409 acres only as the remaining land was in possession of poultry farmers who had filed a case in court claiming that their farms were leased.

After a few months when the deputy commissioner of former district east informed the KWSB vide his letters (No Rev/2430 dated 12.04.1994 and No2685 dated June 8/9, 1994) that the case pending in court had been withdrawn by poultry farmers and the KWSB could proceed to protect the land with boundary walls and iron gates after paying five million rupees as compensation to the poultry farmers. Subsequently, the KWSB paid the amount as compensation to the poultry farmers through the DC (East) and wasted no time in raising boundary walls all around the land at a cost of Rs7 million.

Soon afterward two letters (No74 dated 22.03.2005 and No15 dated 31.01.2005) were sent to the Executive District Officer (Revenue) for taking immediate action so that the title of the land could be transferred and formalised in favour of the KWSB, the sources said.

Besides, a draft summary concerning the land was also sent to the senior member of the board of revenue with a request to change the title of the land in favour of the KWSB but all their efforts went in vain, the sources said.

The water board got removed encroachments and published public notices along with a map of the land in the national dailies in June 2005, informing the general public that the land is the KWSB property.

However, the water board despite repeated efforts could not get the 465-acre land’s title transferred in its favour. A few years later, when the water board officials approached the city government’s revenue department again for the purpose they were informed that only 100 acres were in the name of the KWSB while rest of the land was allotted to the Sindh Civil Servants’ Society and the Ibad Khan Trust.