KARACHI: The provincial assembly was on Wednesday informed that the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) was under the administrative control of the Sindh government and its handing over to the army was ‘out of question’.

While furnishing statement and replies to the lawmakers’ written and verbal queries during Question Hour, Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah denied that the water utility was being given under the administrative control of the army.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s parliamentary party leader Khurrum Sher Zaman had asked the minister if the KWSB was likely to be handed over to the army.

Mr Sher Zaman was of the view that the KWSB should be handed over to the army because people wanted fair distribution of water. He alleged that the Pakistan Peoples Party was distributing water tankers only to its workers.

However, the local government minister said that water tankers were given even on the request of Mr Sher Zaman in his constituency.

He said that the population of the city was at present 25 million and 1,000 million gallons of water daily (MGD) was required for their needs. “We are giving 485 MGD,” he added.

The minister said that there were many areas in the city where there was no distribution network of the water utility.

Besides, he said, KWSB cannot provide water to the entire city due to shortage of water.

Minister Shah also mentioned that the Frontier Works Organisation was working on the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme, better known as K-IV project, and its cost had increased from Rs25 billion to Rs126bn due to delay.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2023