THIS is in response to Sindh chief minister seeking ideas on Karachi’s storm water drainage problem as reported in Dawn Metropolitan in its July 28 issue.

Karachi has two rivers, namely Malir and Lyari, flowing parallel to each other from north east to south west. They are about 10 miles apart on an average. Since they run almost on the two extremes of the city, any part of Karachi would be less than 10 miles from these two rivers.

One solution is to lay new storm water drain lines perpendicular to these rivers from north west to south east. These lines can be buried on the sides of the existing roads.

Pakistan now has the technology to make up to 10 feet diameter PVC pipes and manways on site. The machine can be moved quickly and easily. These lightweight pipes can put in the trench and joined with PVC manways as soon as it is excavated. The lines can be buried with least inconvenience the same day to avoid hassle to the public.

The underground pipe lines will be secured from people throwing in trash and there will be no plastic bag accumulation and subsequent area reduction issues.

S. Nayyar Iqbal Raza

Karachi

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2020