IN a meeting held on Oct 8, the Sindh chief minister ordered the release of Rs336.7 million to make 110 reverse osmosis plants functional. The meeting was told that there were 2,646 RO plants installed in different districts of the province, costing Rs13.6 billion. Why is the Sindh government obsessed with RO plants?

The report of the Commission of Inquiry, prepared by Mr Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro (Feb 25, 2017), says on page 120: “The way these RO plants are shown to be working and producing drinkable water as per WHO standards is nothing but a farce. The company running the project seems to be earning millions of rupees through these RO plants, which do not produce good quality water for drinking.”

So far billions of rupees, as is shown in this document, have been wasted in the name of these RO plants without any justification for these plants in some cases to even exist

Neither the quality of water through labs nor its quantity through any metering system are being analysed at any of the plants; yet payments are being made by the Sindh government.

While the private firm, in question, is owned by a former chief secretary of Sindh, why waste Rs13.6bn on a worthless project?

With this amount, dependable municipal water treatment plants could have been established in all districts of Sindh to provide safe and reliable drinking water.

A Citizen

Hyderabad

Published in Dawn, October 21st , 2018