KARACHI, July 13: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has offered three reasons for the delay in the completion of the much-awaited Lyari water project. KWSB managing-director Ghulam Arif said on Friday that the Lyari town nazim had requested for an extension of the pipeline from Bakra Piri to Mira Naka besides a change of route from Lyari Nadi towards Mirza Adam Khan Road.

“These changes also resulted in an increase in the overall cost and delayed the project,” he stated.

A Lyari NGO had approached the Sindh High Court against a waterline project along the Lyari River. However, the court allowed the execution of the project as planned but the pace of work had suffered due to litigation, he added.

He said that another factor was the attitude of the previous contractor who was not serious about the project and was carrying out the work at a snail’s pace besides manoeuvring in a way to get the project’s cost raised. The contract was rescinded to save the financial interests of the water utility.