KARACHI, July 25: President Asif Ali Zardari has agreed to provide funds to the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board for the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) and Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan (S-III), said KWSB chief Misbahuddin Farid on Wednesday.

He told Dawn that this was decided at a meeting held at the Bilawal House on Monday to review the Lyari development package.

“Keeping in mind the importance of Karachi as the industrial hub of Pakistan, the president wanted the KWSB to be able to address the city’s water and sewerage issues.”

“The same day we had also been promised land at Mauripur for the S-III project by the Sindh governor. Therefore I was told to go ahead with the K-IV project and the S-III plan despite my informing President Zaradari that we were still awaiting administrative approval for both,” he said.

“That’s when we were assured that the approval and funds will be provided to us. For this I have been summoned to Islamabad to meet with the president’s secretary Nasreen ul Haq in order to be able to finalise the details for both projects,” he added.

Providing details of both projects, Mr Farid said: “K-IV is set to look into Karachi’s water needs for the next 25 years by increasing the city’s water supply by 260 MGD, initially. As for the S-III plan, it is a 500 MGD project for the treatment of the city’s residential waste.”

About its funding, the MD said that the federal and provincial governments had issued the allocation of funds as requested by the KWSB as per requirement of their first year plan, which the third stakeholder was yet to do. “According to the first year’s plan, the Karachi Port Trust, too, being a stakeholder is to provide 33 per cent of the funding like the federal government and the Sindh government. We wrote them a letter today regarding the matter,” he said.

About the K-IV funding, the KWSB chief said that it could be divided into 40 per cent and 60 per cent between the federal and provincial governments like was done for the K-III project or it could be 50 per cent by both. “Both the Sindh governor and the president are keen to get the projects completed and have assured us that any kind of fund disbursement problems for the project will be eradicated,” he concluded.