KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday directed the local government and other departments concerned to work out a master plan for water supply and sewerage with treatment facilities and submit it to his secretariat within the next 21 days.

He also directed them to prepare a detailed plan with a deadline and estimated cost for the provision of safe drinking water and treatment of drinking and waste water all over Sindh.

Also read: SC wants time frame for resolution of potable water, sewerage issues

“I want people to open their tap at home, take water, boil and drink it — this must be so safe,” he said and warned that inefficiency would not be tolerated.

The CM issued this directive while presiding over a meeting held at the Chief Minister House to carry out directives of the Supreme Court to provide safe drinking water to everyone in the province and to stop releasing untreated effluent into water bodies.

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers Manzoor Wassan, Dr Sikandar Mandhro, Jam Khan Shoro, Mohammad Ali Malkani, Fayaz Butt, Chief Secretary Rizwan Memon, Advocate General Zamir Ghumro, P&D chairman Mohammad Waseem and health secretary Fazal Pechuho.

Filter plants to be built at Gharo, Pipri, Dumlotee, NEK, COD and Hub

Recalling that the apex court was helping the provincial government in the provision of safe drinking water and disposal of treated waste water, the CM said: “It is our prime duty to take necessary measures so that people right from Kashmore to Karachi drink safe water”.

He added: “There are two different targets for each and every city. The first one is to work out a detailed plan to rehabilitate the existing water supply and drainage system with the installation of treatment plants with deadlines for the implementation and an estimated cost so that funds could be made available. This working must be completed within a week and next week I’ll hold another meeting in which district-wise plans would be discussed and timeline would be set to start and complete the work,” he said.

“The other assignment is the preparation of water supply and drainage master plan for each and every district. This must be completed within next 15 days.”

K-IV project

Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro said there were three phases of the K-IV water supply project. The first phase is of 260mgd of water, which would be completed by 2018, while the second and third phases of 260mgd and 130mgd were scheduled to be completed by 2020 and 2022, respectively.

He said the existing water distribution system was poor, and directed the water board to pursue the World Bank to study the feasibility. “This can be done by replacing the old distribution system with a new one by selecting areas such as Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Water Pump, Malir, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad and then the areas which are not in the net of the water board and start installing a distribution system there.”

He told KWSB managing director Hashim Raza Zaidi to prepare a proper work plan and improve the defective billing system of the water board for bulk purchasers.

The CM said the Sindh government had provided Rs446 million for chlorination and lab equipment, Rs58m for the rehabilitation of existing filter plants and Rs3,500m for the construction of new filter plants at Gharo, Pipri, Dumlotee, NEK, COD and Hub.

Wasa efforts

The chief minister was told that the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) had made efforts to establish a new filter plant of 30mgd on Jamshoro Road. Three of the five clarifiers had been made functional, and a new lab established. The quality of water had improved at the source.

The meeting was told that a combined effluent treatment plant at Kotri had been made functional for Rs63.79m the chief minister had provided outside the budget.

The chief minister also directed the commissioners and the health secretary to make necessary arrangements in their respective districts, including Karachi, for the disposal of hospital waste and liquid properly. “There must be a separate filtration system in the hospitals,” he said and directed the water board MD to identify the areas where water supply and sewerage lines were close to one another and separate them in an efficient way.

Labour conference

Addressing a conference organised by the Sindh labour department, the chief minister said industrial development was linked to the health, financial strength and working atmosphere of workers.

He hoped that this tripartite conference in which workers, their employers (industrialists) and the regulators (government) had been brought together to discuss their issues would help resolve them or give recommendations to the government for their resolution.

Referring to the welfare measures taken for workers, the chief minister said the provincial government, through Sessi, Workers Welfare Board and other such institutions, had built residential units and established schools and hospitals for workers all over Sindh.

“We consider it as our mission to serve the workers because we believe they are the main force behind our industrial growth,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2017