KARACHI, July 6: The Defence Housing Authority on Tuesday launched a Rs200 million plus project for the refurbishment of of the existing water supply, sewerage, drainage and road network system in the localities which fall under Phase I.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the project, the DHA administrator, Brig Maqsood Hussain, said that the 20-year-old infrastructure in Defence, Phase I, badly needed renovation and upgrade.

"This project, which involves complete revamping of the existing water supply, sewerage, drainage and road network system, will be completed within a year," he announced. He added that private contractors tasked to carry out the refurbishment project promised that they would finish the project within nine months.

He said: "Though no effort will be spared to ensure that DHA residents are not inconvenienced while the renovation work continues, but some residents will surely be troubled. All utility chiefs have been roped in, and if a fault occurs it will be repaired or attended to without delay."

He recalled that irate Defence residents used to make calls to President Gen Pervez Musharraf while Korangi Road was being reconstructed. "When the president came to Karachi, he called me and said that the project must be completed by March 31.

We managed to meet the deadline set by the president, but the service lanes of Korangi Road still need to be made. Besides, storm drains run along Korangi Road and it is hoped that when it rains in Karachi there will be no pools of stagnant water along the highway."

Brig Hussain told the audience that the refurbishment project had the blessing of the DHA executive board president, Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, who maintained that once the project was completed, the DHA would be able to curtail recurring maintenance budget and spend more amount on uplift of the localities in Defence.

He said the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation would carry out renovation work in the Phase I of Defence at an estimated cost of Rs36 million. He recalled that in the past the DHA used to carry out renovation work on a patchwork basis.

"This provisional and time-consuming methodology has been abandoned in favour of another policy whereby the DHA would carry out major refurbishment projects on a Phase basis," he explained.

According to a multimedia presentation which was run at the ground-breaking ceremony, particular attention would be paid to the drainage system which would ensure collection and automatic disposal of storm water through newly built drainage channels.

Old pipelines would be replaced with new ones, especially those made from polyethylene and UPVC. Roads would be recarpeted and renovated. Pumping stations would be upgraded. An entire water distribution system would be re-laid.