KARACHI, Sept 23: The provincial project steering committee for the federally-funded “Clean Drinking Water for All” (CDWA) project met here on Tuesday to review the monthly progress of 1,108 water purification plants being installed in each union council of Sindh.

The meeting, chaired by Additional Chief Secretary (Development) Nazar Hussain Mahar, was informed that 61 out of 1,108 filter plants with a capacity for purifying between 2,000 and 4,000 litres water an hour had been energised so far. Ten of them have been made operational so far including eight in Sukkur, one in Hyderabad and one in Karachi. The progress was found unsatisfactory and the additional chief secretary showed displeasure over slow progress in provision of water and electric and sewage connections, which delayed the installation of water plants.

He asked KWSB, HESCO, KESC representatives, chief engineer, public health engineering and the contractor firm, M/s GP-BIDC (Pvt) Ltd, to speed up the installation work to benefit the poor people of rural areas.

The stakeholders assured the meeting that dedicated efforts would be made to improve the pace of progress.

It was decided that the contractor would install 300 water purification plants in different union councils within a month.

Under the project, a total of 178 plants will be installed in Karachi, 52 in Hyderabad, 46 in Badin, 55 in Thatta, 16 in Tando Mohammed Khan, 19 in Matiari, 28 in Jamshoro, 41 in Mirpurkhas, 19 in Tando Allahyar, 44 in Tharparkar, 55 in Sanghar, 27 in Umerkot, 46 in Sukkur, 76 in Khairpnr, 51 in Nawabshah, 51 in Naushehro Feroze, 40 in Ghotki, 44 in Larkana, 40 in Kamber-Shahdadkot, 37 in Kashmore, 52 in Dadu, 40 in Jacobabad and 51 in Shikarpur.

Earlier, the project was discussed on September 20 at a meeting of provincial secretaries, chaired by the chief secretary, wherein DCOs were directed to activate their district implementation committees for proper and timely implementation of the CDWA project in Sindh.

Meanwhile, a meeting held under the chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Tuesday discussed the regularisation of villages in Karachi and other districts of the province.

The meeting reviewed the process of regularisation and decided to expedite it so that it could be completed as early as possible.

Revenue Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for the Media Waqar Mahdi, Senior Member Board of Revenue Ashfaque Ahmed Memon, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister Agha Jan Akhtar, Special Secretary Land Utilization Nazar Mohammad Baloch, Sindh Goth Abad Project Director Wahab Memon and others attended the meeting.—APP/PPI