Zardari to inaugurate Asia’s biggest RO plant in Mithi today

Published January 7, 2015
Former President and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari along with his daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari waves to his supporters during foundation stone laying ceremony of the Rohri Hydro Project & Nara Hydro Project.   — INP/file
Former President and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari along with his daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari waves to his supporters during foundation stone laying ceremony of the Rohri Hydro Project & Nara Hydro Project. — INP/file

MITHI: Sahji, an elderly resident of Chhahu village in Chachhro taluka of Tharparkar, walks up to a water reservoir in Sanwaryo-jo-Par, located about one kilometre away from her village, to fill a few buckets tied to the back of a donkey and take them home.

It’s her daily routine. The water available to the people living in villages surrounding the reservoir for drinking and all other purposes is untreated. It is supplied through a pipeline originating from a canal in Kunri.

But the population of Chhachhro taluka and certain other parts of Thar will now get great relief not only from a shortage of the most essential commodity but also from water-borne diseases as the region these days is witnessing a brisk activity in the water sector.

The Sindh government plans to install 300 reverse osmosis (RO) plants in water-starved regions of the province by February. The number of the ROs already made operational is 150.

“A whopping Rs5.4 billion allocation has been made by the provincial government for the project,” said Irshad Hussain, the chief operating officer of Pak Oasis — the company that has been working in Thar’s water sector since 2004. Mithi, the headquarters of this desert district, gets canal water once in a month from its Naukot source.

He said that 25 per cent of the total cost is borne by the government. Giving the status of the project, he said 750 plants had been procured along with solar system and allied equipment.

The civil work at the 300 sites had been completed and the execution of the project would be completed by June this year, he added.

The firm is said to have signed an agreement with government under the Special Initiative Department (SID) but its secretary, Ejaz Ahmed Khan, appeared not ready to share details of the financial aspect of the project.

Billed as ‘Asia’s largest (capacity-wise) RO water filter plant’ , a 2mgd (million gallon per day) plant that has been installed in the Misri Shah area of Mithi, is to be inaugurated on Wednesday by Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman and former president of the country Asif Ali Zardari.

Originally, the inauguration ceremony was scheduled earlier but had to be postponed due to Mr Zardari’s preoccupation in Islamabad.

This plant can be operated either through electricity or solar energy and has a treating capacity of 4,000 to 15,000 PPM of total dissolved solids (TDS), says Irshad Khan, the company’s technical executive in Mithi.

“It is solar energy that matters here in this region as it makes operation of ROs cost effective,” says PPP Senator Taj Hyder, who is monitoring the execution of RO plants in Thar.

“We are converting old [RO] plants to solar system and one of them, functional at Sabharo Shah since 2006 has already been converted,” he adds.

The biggest RO plant at Misri Shah RO has been established at a cost of Rs300 million while many smaller plants having a capacity of 10,000 gallons per day have been set up across the region at a cost of around Rs2.5 million each.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

No preparedness
Updated 06 Jul, 2025

No preparedness

With frequency of calamitous weather events increasing, the country cannot afford to be in denial after every tragedy.
Saarc’s future
Updated 07 Jul, 2025

Saarc’s future

South Asia’s vast potential cannot be held hostage forever by India.
PSB’s waning authority
06 Jul, 2025

PSB’s waning authority

IT has been two decades since the National Sports Policy was introduced but its implementation leaves much to be...
Extreme step
Updated 05 Jul, 2025

Extreme step

Legal experts have termed the move devoid of logic and an extreme measure.
Russian recognition
05 Jul, 2025

Russian recognition

NEARLY four years after the Afghan Taliban marched into Kabul, Russia has become the first country to recognise the...
Building collapse
Updated 05 Jul, 2025

Building collapse

Why has the Sindh Building Control Authority been so helpless in enforcing its writ?