KARACHI, June 13: Work on two storm-water drains being laid for the disposal of rainwater from Clifton and Bath Island is not likely to be completed by June 15, the day on which, according to the Met Office, the monsoon season usually starts in the city.

Answers to queries made with officials of the KWSB’s Tameer-i-Karachi Programme (TKP), who have been tasked with undertaking both projects, indicate that although almost 97 per cent of the work has been finished on Clifton’s 2.2-kilometre-long storm-water drain (SWD), work on Bath Island’s 4.4-kilometre-long SWD is only half complete.

Though the Clifton SWD might be made functional in a fortnight or so, it would take another two to three weeks to fill up the trenches and complete the carpeting work on either side of the drain, officials said. They added that the restoration work of Clifton Road’s footpaths, which had been dug up while laying the SWD, would consume one more week. However, the KWSB’s Chief Engineer for the TKP, Mashkoor-ul-Hasnain Zaidi, was optimistic that the ordeal suffered by the residents of Clifton and Bath Island last year would not be repeated.

“Even if the rainy season begins in a couple of days, there won’t be any catastrophe similar to the one suffered by the residents of both localities last year,” he said.

In support of his contention, Mr Zaidi said that the Clifton SWD had functioned quite smoothly in the winter rains although it was only in its initial stages at that time.

The KWSB’s Deputy Project Manager for the TKP and K-III projects, Mohammad Ayoob Shaikh, said that the work on Clifton’s SWD would be completed in a week or so, while efforts were being made to complete the Bath Island SWD project by June 30, although its official date of completion is July 16.

It would, however, be a difficult task on the part of the officials concerned if they actually succeeded in completing the Bath Island project in the next 17 days as 50 per cent of the work still remained to be completed, sources said.

Unfolding the details of the projects, the TKP’s deputy manager said that the eastern part of Clifton’s SWD would drain rainwater directly into Nehr-i-Khayyam, while its western section would dispose of rainwater in the Frere Nullah. Bath Island’s SWD was supposed to dispose of rainwater into the Chinna Creek, near Hijrat Colony, he explained.

Regarding the Bath Island SWD, he said that to avoid the back-flow of water into the drain from Chinna Creek in the high tide season (which normally touches its peak from June 15 to September 15), a gate would be installed at the outlet of the Bath Island drain. Whenever the level of water at the drain’s outlet came at par with the level of water in the creek, the gate would be shut and the water from the drain would be directly pushed into Chinna Creek with the help of a pumping machine.

Last year’s monsoon rains were no less than a nightmare for the residents of both localities.