KARACHI: Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Sunday said the authorities concerned would revamp the water supply from the Hub source under a public-private partnership project to ensure that 100 million gallons per day (mgd) of water reach the teeming provincial capital.

“The city should receive 100mgd water from the Hub source, which has not been possible most of the time due to variety of reasons, which included dry seasons and technical reasons. We are going to make sure that the city gets water to full capacity,” said the LG minister after presiding over a meeting at his office.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said supplying water to the needs of the city was a key priority of the Sindh government for which various strategies had been planned.

“The water supply and all other components related to the Hub source’s link with the city are going to be revamped as per our planning in which the Public Private Partnership Unit would play a key role,” said Mr Shah.

LG secretary Roshan Shaikh, managing director of the KWSB Asadullah Khan, KWSB chief engineer Zafar Palijo, director general of the PPP Unit Khalid Shaikh and several other senior officials attended the meeting.

Officials directed to set up a technical committee headed by the KWSB MD

Minister Shah directed the officials to set up a technical committee headed by the MD of KWSB with some other KWSB officials and two members from the PPP Unit as its members.

The committee would examine all aspects involving the water supply from Hub Dam and submit its recommendations to the LG minister.

The meeting participants were informed that the system linked to the Hub Dam had got gravely damaged and worn out, which cost a great deal to the deficient water supply from there to the city, particularly Karachi’s neighbourhoods in its western and central districts, which mainly rely on the source in the area separating Sindh with Balochistan.

The broken system costs at least half of the water supply, conceded by the officials in the meeting who said that not more than 50mgd water could reach the city in a normal day because of it. The rest of 50mgd water gets wasted, they added.

“This is the main reason behind water scarcity in the areas, which are hooked up to the Hub source,” said an official.

The participants in the meeting agreed that revamping the whole system that carried water from Hub to Karachi was the only solution to reduce water scarcity in the city.

They also discussed other issues relating to the performance of the KWSB, which included uninterrupted pumping of water to the city. Shifting the KWSB’s pumping system to a reliable solar system was debated upon.

“We examined various aspects of converting the KWSB’s system to solar power system and have decided to study it further before taking a policy decision,” said Minister Nasir Shah.

He said the meeting participants also discussed various water supply schemes across the province.

Besides, alternative sources of water were explored and installation of plants to treat water for Karachi and the rest of Sindh was also discussed threadbare.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2020