KARACHI, Aug 11: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s K-3 project, designed to provide an additional 100 million gallons per day (mgd) water to the city would be completed by June 2006.

With this additional quantity, the supply of water to the metropolis will increase to a total of 642mgd.

This was announced by Managing Director of the KWSB Brig Iftikhar Haider during the up-gradation ceremony of the institution’s public relations department here on Thursday.

He said that the deputy chairman of planning commission had asked the Board to go ahead with its plan of controlling water losses. Provision of the required funds for the plan by the federal government was also pledged, he added.

Brig Haider pointed out the federal government had also promised release of funds for the work on the laying of major pipelines in Orangi and Korangi and the KWSB had been advised to prepare the PC-1 for the same. Besides, work on laying major sewerage lines in Lyari and Korangi had already begun, he said.

Referring to the Sindh governor’s recent directives for setting up small filter plants at all the pumping stations, he said eight different companies, including foreign one, had shown interest in such projects.

Initially, five such plants would be installed at the pumping stations of Lyari on a trial basis. All the existing filter plants would be rehabilitated for which funds would be provided under the Tameer-i-Karachi Programme, he said.

About the KWSB’s plan of setting up its own 35 megawatt power plant to ensure an uninterrupted power supply to Dhabeji pumping station, from where the city receives 442mgd water, Brig Haider said that work on the project would commence by the end of this year and the project would be completed in 18-21 months.

The power plant which will be installed by a consortium of companies, led by a state-owned Chinese enterprise, on BOOT (build, own, operate and transfer) basis will not only meet the power requirement of Dhabeji pumping station, but will also provide electricity to the K-3 project and the proposed K-4 project of 100mgd capacity.

Stressing the need for reforms in the KWSB for improving service delivery system, as well as increasing its revenue generation capacity, Brig Haider said that a presentation in this regard would be made before the government in October.

KWSB LAND: Regretting that a number of marriage lawns and a restaurant had been set up on the KWSB’s lands near the Awami Markaz on Sharea Faisal owing to the wrong policies pursued in the past by the KWSB, he said he was striving hard to retrieve these lands.