KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday said that the recent heavy rains wreaked havoc on Karachi and Mirpurkhas divisions, therefore, he decided to conduct a study of the drainage system in the metropolis by the NED University and would make necessary changes on the design of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD).

This he said while talking to World Bank’s Country Director Najy Benhassine, who called on him here at CM House.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah and WB’s Melinda Good. Mr Shah said that the recent heavy rains had caused urban flooding in Karachi and inundated hundreds of villages in Mirpurkhas division and parts of Hyderabad division.

The World Bank will provide technical assistance to remove design defects of LBOD

“I have assigned the NED University to conduct a study on the drainage system in the city and suggest ways and means to improve it so that disposal of water could be made in natural gravity,” he added.

The NED University had started its study and it would be completed within next two months and then the drainage system of the city would be designed accordingly, he said.

LBOD’s design defects

The CM said that there were design defects in the 385-kilometre-long LBOD, which started flowing backward during high tide in the sea. “Therefore, instead of disposing of saline water or rainwater the LBOD starts submerging the nearby localities,” he said, adding that he had decided to remove the design defects from LBOD.

He urged the World Bank to provide technical assistance to the provincial government in removing design defects from LBOD.

The WB country chief said that his technical team would extend full support to the provincial government in development of a drainage system in Karachi and removing design defects of LBOD.

WB to finance Yellow Line

The chief minister said that the World Bank was going to construct the 22-km-long Yellow Line bus rapid transit corridor with an estimated cost of Rs61 billion, including its infrastructure, drainage, lighting, bus ways, stations, terminal and depot.

He said that the Yellow Line was the most important project for the city and added that it was developed primarily along Korangi and Korangi Industrial Area roads connecting Karachi’s south-eastern parts (Korangi, Landhi, Bin Qasim) characterised for being large and dense industrial and residential areas, and parts of South and Central districts.

He said that the World Bank was preparing its design, which needed to be expedited so that the project could be taken up.

The WB country head assured the chief minister that the design of the project would be completed at the earliest.

Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed the need of conducting property surveys in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Planning and Development chairman Muhammad Waseem said that the last property survey was conducted in Karachi in 2001 by the excise and taxation department and now it would be conducted by the WB experts.

It was also pointed out that only Rs2bn property tax was collected from the city and the amount was lower than Lahore.

Rs2.93bn released for Karachi megaprojects

The CM also chaired a meeting on Karachi megaprojects on Wednesday and directed the finance department to release Rs2.39bn so that five important schemes could be completed by June 2021.

The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Shah, Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Finance Secretary Hassan Naqvi, LG Secretary Najam Shah, Project Director Karachi Projects Khalid Masroor and others.

The chief minister was told that three new priority schemes with an estimated cost of Rs909.923 million had been launched. They included reconstruction of roads from Ghani Chowrangi Rasheedabad and from Habib Metro to SITE police station.

The chief minister directed the finance department to release 50 per cent of the amount and when their utilization report was submitted the remaining 50pc might be released.

Discussing another Rs995.03m scheme of reconstruction of road from Gulbai to Y-Junction, the chief minister ordered the authorities to construct all the Hawkesbay roads simultaneously so that the area could be opened up for tourists.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2020