LAHORE: The Punjab government and the public have to suffer losses for delaying non-tangible projects like streamlining of underground drainage system every year.

Officials say the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the Lahore Development Authority (LDA), city’s top civic agencies, have written to the chief executive office many times to allocate massive funds for the rehabilitation of city’s sanitation system but the government did not take the issue seriously.

Know more: Heavy rains claim at least 40 lives across Punjab

“The government completed the metro bus project in 2012 just in 11 months to influence the public opinion in the May 2013 elections,” says the official.

“Despite knowing well about the miseries faced by the public in the monsoon rains, the government did not take any measure to address the issue.”

Besides the metro bus project, the government also constructed underpasses, roads and overhead bridges but other civic projects are not on its menu, says the senior Wasa official.

He said the government sent a delegation to Turkey last year to study Istanbul’s water and sanitation system. The team included the Lahore commissioner and some other officials who met the officials of Istanbul municipality and its subsidiary, ISKI. In September last, Turkish experts representing ISKI visited Lahore and studied Wasa infrastructure.

“In December, Wasa sent necessary maps and drawings and data on the water and sanitation system to Turkish experts to suggest improvement in the system,” the official added.

Another official said Turkish experts Mehmet Aygun, Fatih Yildiz and Dr Ibrahim Karali had suggested Wasa to specify nullahs to drain sewage and rainwater separately so that they did not choke during rains.

They had also suggested the construction of new nullahs as per needs besides urging Wasa not to rely on the decades-old combined sewerage system. They also asked Wasa to install water treatment plants in the city, saying wastewater in the developed countries was always treated and used for irrigation rather than diverting it to the rivers. They also stressed on educating people to dispose of domestic waste properly rather than letting it flow on roads and streets. The suggestions were never taken up for consideration, he said.

The official also quoted the Punjab government’s report submitted in the Supreme Court for its efforts in improving the city’s water and sanitation system.

The Supreme Court took suo moto notice over Wasa’s failure to drain out the rainwater from its Lahore registry in November 2013.

According to the report, the government stated a phased plan worth Rs9.2 billion for rehabilitation of the city drainage system had been devised. In phase-1, the government planned to rehabilitate Birdwood drain, Central drain and Cantonment drain from Multan Road to Babu Sabu.

He said despite visits by the Turkish experts and government’s tall claims, no measure was taken to implement the plan. The official said the government had also established Lahore Water and Sanitation Company but it had yet to start working. About the losses to roads due to rains, an official of the City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) said the engineering staff repaired the roads affected due to rains and the increasing traffic loads. Last year, the CDGL carried out patchwork of 20 roads which included Main Boulevard (Gulberg, Siddiq Trade Centre to Kalma Chowk), Park Lane Road, Centre Point to Cavalry Ground, Zahoor Elahi Road, GT Road (Ik Moria Pul to Daroghawala), Shalimar Link Road, Canal Bank to Shalamar Bagh, The Mall, PGM Office to Mian Mir Pul, Edgerton Road (Shimla Pahari to Punjab Assembly), GPO Chowk to Australia Building, Pajian to Sundar Road, Sundar to Manga Road, Link Road (Raiwind) leading to the Tableeghi Ijtima site, Sundar to Raiwind, Manga to Raiwind, Barki Road and Bhani Road.

He said similarly the LDA too repaired many roads in its controlled areas. The official said unless the government rehabilitated city’s sewerage and drainage systems, the road to a beautiful Lahore would remain incomplete.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2014