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KARACHI, March 30: Pace of work on the Rs6.3 billion Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (Phase-V), Stage-II, commonly known as K-3, has slowed down because the federal government has delayed the release of the required funds.
Work on the project, under which Karachi will get an additional supply of 100 million gallons of water every day, began in April 2002 and is scheduled to be commissioned in Dec 2005.
However, the project might not be completed on time because the government has so far released Rs1 billion only. In addition, the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board's request for an immediate release of Rs1.5 billion went unheeded.
KWSB sources told Dawn that both the city Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, and the former managing director of the KWSB, Brig Asif Ghazali, who recently attended a meeting of the National Economic Council in Islamabad, had requested the federal government to immediately provide Rs1.5 billion for the project. The sources added that their request was turned down at the meeting.
They said the city Nazim recently wrote a letter to the federal finance minister, asking him to direct the officials concerned to ensure that the funds for the project were released on a priority basis.
Meanwhile, the city Nazim, accompanied by the KWSB managing director, Shahid Salim, will visit Gharo, Dhabeji and Gujjo Canal on Thursday to review the pace of work on K-3.
ILLEGAL CONNECTIONS: The city Nazim, Naimatullah Khan, has directed the officials of the KWSB to immediately disconnect all those illegal connections which are being used for commercial purposes in Mehmoodabad.
He gave this directive at the inauguration ceremony of Al-Farooq School in Mehmoodabad under the aegis of Al-Farooq Academy. He said that the illegal connections which were being used for domestic purposes would be regularized in time.
Speaking about a constant water shortage in Mehmoodabad, he said that the locality's water supply scheme was included in the Karachi package. He said that out of the Rs29 billion Karachi package, Rs13 billion would be spent on the improvement of the water and sewerage system of the city.
