KARACHI: Amid mounting criticism over Karachi’s troubled water supply and sewerage system, Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday expressed willingness to learn from Lahore’s experience, emphasising the need for modern reforms and institutional collaboration to tackle the city’s long-standing civic challenges.

Leading a high-level delegation of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), the mayor visited the headquarters of the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) in Lahore, where Punjab Minister for Housing Bilal Yaseen, Wasa Chairman Chaudhry Sher Ali Khan, Vice Chairman Chaudhry Shehbaz Ahmed and Managing Director Ghufran Ahmed received them.

A statement issued here by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) said that officials provided an overview of their operational model, technological integration, and service delivery mechanisms.

Mr Wahab acknowledged the scale of Karachi’s water and drainage issues and stressed the importance of adopting best practices from other major urban centres.

“Karachi can further improve its water supply and drainage systems by learning from Lahore’s successful models and experiences,” the statement quoted Mayor Wahab as saying.

Talking to reporters, he expressed objection to comparisons between Karachi and Lahore in terms of infrastructure and governance, noting that both provincial capitals had different ground realities.

At one point, a reporter asked Wahab why the PPP “could not deliver what the public wanted” despite ruling Sindh for years, prompting Yasin to ask media persons to be “mindful of respecting the guests”, Dawn.com reported.

During the visit, the Karachi delegation was briefed on key aspects of Lahore’s water supply and sewerage systems, including revenue collection, infrastructure management, and the use of modern monitoring technologies.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2026