HYDERABAD, May 17: Experts fear that the gigantic task of repair of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD), which was damaged during last year’s rains, will not be complete before coming monsoon.

According to the experts, the Sindh irrigation department is carrying out restoration of the LBOD without third party evaluation, which is needed to ensure the quality of work, a concern shared by growers.

The provincial government has not appointed consultants for third party evaluation of the work, as was done during repair of dykes of River Indus following the devastating floods of 2010.

President Asif Ali Zardari had also formed a committee of Sindh Assembly members, headed by Dr Ahmed Ali Shah, which had pointed out a number of anomalies during their visit to different sites.

The committee had even disputed the length of damaged embankments while comparing the measurement done by the irrigation department with one done through an independent source.

As far as restoration of the LBOD and other drains and irrigation channels is concerned, the government has yet to appoint consultants. The government has released Rs1.5 billion for first phase of the work, to be completed by June 30.

The work started too late, in mid-April, despite growers’ demand that it should have started much earlier.

Major damage occurred to the LBOD in Badin and Mirpurkhas districts during rains last year.

Recently the irrigation department has placed the LBOD under control of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida).

Previously out of three components of the LBOD, two were looked after by Sida and one by the irrigation department.

The three will now be looked after by Sida through a project director, who is an executive engineer.

According to Nara Canal Area Water Board chairman Mir Tariq Talpur, 70 per cent of the LBOD passes through Nara Canal area in Mirpurkhas. “We have not been taken into confidence regarding the ongoing repair work,” he said.

He expressed apprehension about the quality of workmanship.

The LBOD and the Mirpurkhas Main Drain were previously looked after by the Left Bank Canal Area Water Board. The Nara canal board raised an objection that a major part of the LBOD passed through Nara Canal area. “Subsequently its control was handed over to us on Aug 27 last year and we got some breaches plugged,” he said.

“At a time when restoration work has started, the LBOD has again been handed over to Sida,” the leader of the farmers’ organisation said.

He said the growers should be taken on board because they would suffer in case of any disaster as a result of breaches in the drain.

THIRD PARTY EVALUATION: Sindh Irrigation Secretary Babar Hassan Effendi said third party evaluation could be conducted after the work was executed. “We are primarily concerned with execution of work for restoration of LBOD and other natural drains.”

However, a senior Sida official said evaluation of work after its completion would not be effective. “You will have to then rely on the information provided by irrigation engineers and contractors,” he said.

Idrees Rajput, a former secretary of irrigation, expressed doubt that first phase of work would be completed by June 30, the deadline.

“Half of May has passed. Usually it doesn’t rain in June but we never know when it rains will come given changing patterns of weather,” he said.

He said that recently he was told that out of 15 damaged sites, work had started on four and tenders for work on remaining 11 sites were yet to be floated.

“Consultants can check things independently as it was done during river dykes’ repair because otherwise you have to rely on contractors and irrigation officials”, he said.

Even if the consultants’ appointment was made now, they could still check compactness of the strengthened embankments and conduct soil test but there was a limit, he said. It would not be fair to ask consultants to check quality of work one month after they were completed.

He blamed irrigation authorities for wasting a lot of time and proposed a ministerial committee to supervise the work to ensure strict monitoring and quality of work.