SUKKUR: The project management office (PMO) of the Sindh Barrage Improvement Project (BISP) has declared recently installed Sukkur Barrage gates ‘free of major Issues’.

“Minor faults are being rectified,” it said in reply to a letter from the Khairpur irrigation circle’s superintending engineer, who had pinpointed some ‘major’ issues having surfaced in the quality and operation of the gates.

Project Director Pritam Das, in his reply said that no major technical faults were found in the recently replaced gates Nos. 44 to 59. He said that the technical observations were recorded during the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) and that only minor technical issues were noted during the test.

These minor faults are already being rectified by the contractor concerned, he said, adding that these faults do not affect the overall structural or operational integrity of the gates.

“All necessary steps are being taken to ensure quality compliance,” said Mr Das, and explained that the gates were still under the custody of the Chinese contractor and had not yet been formally handed over to the PMO or the barrage authority.

Mr Das wrote to the SE that a joint committee comprising representatives of the contractor, consultant, PMO and the barrage authority had conducted a detailed inspection and jointly identified the minor issues, which were now in the process of being resolved.

Addressing the concerns raised in the SE’s letter, he said that the matter was part of standard internal procedures and routine qua­lity checks which were being followed properly.

Regarding the gates installation work, he said: “There is no issue of substandard material being used. We have maintained strict adherence to quality assurance protocols at every stage of the project”.

The Sukkur Barrage gate replacement is a critical component of the ongoing efforts under the SBIP to modernise and safeguard vital irrigation infrastructure across Sindh.

The Khairpur SE, in his letter, had quoted the July 28 communication from the executive engineer, Barrage Division, Sukkur office, to inform Mr Das that he [the barrage division SE] had mentioned technical observations recorded during the ongoing SAT with certain issues. Some of the pinpointed issues were: uneven load distribution (gate No. 52); a noticeable imbalance in loading between the left and right sides on nearly all gates; recurrent tripping of local control panels; non-rotation of roller wheels; corrosion on roller wheels raising material quality and long-term service ability; abnormal wire rope vibration of gate No. 59; unclear methodology for locking nuts & bolts of the gate structure; unverified manual operation with actuator of gate No. 52; inactivity of SAT in-charge; etc.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2025