KARACHI: Sindh government has decided to rehabilitate the once bustling ‘village of boats’ on the almost-ruined Manchhar Lake and turn it into a model village now when plans are afoot to revitalise the lake, it emerged on Sunday.

Officials in the public health engineering (PHE) department said the decision to bring back as many fishermen families as possible to their boat village was taken on the instructions of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

“We are doing this on the directives of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and [PHE and Rural Development] Minister Shabbir Ali Bijarani,” said PHE secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh.

He said initial working on the plan had already begun to restore the lost glory of this one of the largest lakes of the region.

Mr Shaikh said: “The lake has been heavily contaminated by the Right Bank Outfall Drain project. People had been living on boats there for centuries; there had been many villages floating in the lake.”

Officials said the plan to rehabilitate the lake was multifaceted. It included provision of safe drinking water, a school for the children of fishermen, a dispensary and other basic amenities.

“The floating model village would be a wonderful recreational place for all where we will be establishing floating restaurants and resorts for visitors,” said Mr Shaikh.

He added towers would be built for birdwatchers in addition to fishing points, public toilets and marketplaces.

Officials said such facilities would be there to attract visitors from across the country and abroad.

They said Mr Shaikh recently presided over a meeting with a delegation led by Dawood University of Engineering and Technology vice chancellor Dr Faizullah Abbasi.

Dr Abbasi had told the meeting that the university had undertaken an extensive visit to Manchhar Lake and observed an acute shortage of drinking water in the area. He noted that the local population, mainly fishermen, had lost their livelihood due to pollution of the lake water caused by the MVN drain.

The meeting decided repair, maintenance and sustainable operation of 37 reverse osmosis (RO) plants besides developing a tourist site at the RD 62 location.

The university officials showed sketches of the initial concept that could attract tourism and provide much needed livelihood to local population.

Officials said the PHE&RD secretary had proposed to the DUET to assist the department in evolving a master plan for the model village at Maula Bux Mallah village where a few families of the fishermen community still lived on boats.

They said rehabilitating the community and preserving their culture and centuries-old heritage would be a great job to be done under the plan.

Officials said a joint team of the department and the university had visited Manchhar to finalise the future course of action. They said the two sides would sign a memorandum of understanding for collaboration.

DUET’s team comprising town planners, architects and environmental and chemical engineers along with Sindh government’s officials led by Dr Faizullah Abbasi later visited Maula Bux Mallah village and inspected its four RO plants meant for the local population.

They met local people to assess the living conditions and also collected information with a view to turn the area into a model village.

During the inspection of the RO plants, they found two of them in working condition and the other two under repair by the PHE department.

The university faculty explored the possibility of remote monitoring of the RO plants and their sustainable operation.

They also looked at the possibility of community participation and capacity building for sustainability of the model village.

Apart from other facilities, the would have vegetation and landscaped areas, eateries and souvenir shops so that the local community could generate livelihoods for its members.

Officials said the DUET intended to develop a strategic plan covering all the aforementioned development and rehabilitation schemes in collaboration with the PHE&RD department.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2019