KARACHI: City Mayor Wasim Akhtar has asked Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to direct the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) to take immediate measures to save the city from further deterioration as well as damage to newly constructed roads in different areas of the metropolis.

Official sources said that the mayor wrote on Thursday a letter to the CM informing him that the situation could worsen further in the coming monsoon season because of faulty sewerage system.

The mayor in his letter said that the investment made by the provincial government, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and District Municipal Committees on construction, repair and maintenance of the city roads would face delays if no immediate measure was taken to correct the situation.

He said that all storm-water drains in Karachi were being used as sewerage drains and have no capacity to drain rainwater.

The mayor said that the water and sewerage function was with the KMC engineering department since its inception in the city and later this function was transferred to the Karachi Development Authority in 1957.

Later, he said, Karachi Water and Sewerage Board was established with mayor/administrator/nazim as its chairman. However presently the local government minister was notified as chairman of the KWSB under the SLGA 2013.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2019