KARACHI, June 22: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board has said that 15 per cent of work on cleaning and de-silting of storm-water drains under way in the city has been completed.

The KWSB on instruction from the City Nazim, Mustafa Kamal, kicked off its drain cleaning drive a few days back in view of the expected monsoon rains. About 42 large rain drains would be cleaned using heavy machinery.

The Water Board’s Managing Director, Brig Iftikhar Haider, said that cleaning and de-silting of drains was being carried out after a lapse of several years, adding that though the board was given a difficult task, it would achieve it.

Terming it a challenge for the department, he said the water board would also carry out cleaning and de-silting of rain drains came falling in the jurisdiction of cantonments, Site and other civic bodies.

On Thursday, the KWSB’s Chief Engineer (Infrastructure), Asood Mal, arranged a visit of a team of newsmen of the ongoing cleaning work in various parts of the metropolis.

He told reporters that most of the drains were choked and the first priority was their unblocking and rehabilitation.

He said the water board had initiated work in 16 towns including Lyari whereas drains in Gadap and Bin Qasim towns needed no cleaning.

He said 15 per cent work had been achieved, adding that about Rs800,000 per day was being spent on cleaning and de-silting.

The chief engineer said that the board’s staff was facing difficulties in cleaning drains in interior areas of the city because they were used as garbage bins and houses, and markets were built on them there. Encroachments were set up on drains In North Karachi, he added.

In reply to a query, he said that drains in Lyari, Saddar, Jamshed, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Malir, Landhi and Korangi towns were included in the priority list whereas cleaning of the Gujjar Nullah, Manzoor Colony, Kalri, Chakura and Urdu Bazaar drains was declared important.

He also told the newsmen that the clogged drains near the Ahmed Shah Bukhari Road and Juna Masjid had been unblocked.—PPI