MALIR Cantonment is the largest Cantonment in Pakistan, created back in 1942. Next to the Defence Housing Authority (Karachi), it has the largest number of defence officers' housing schemes in Pakistan but without a modern sewerage system.

In the summer of 2004, a water-borne sewerage system was designed by NESPAK and awarded for construction. It was planned to provide a gravity RCC pipe network, with a lift station and a treatment plant, catering for about 2,000 housing units.

The work was planned to be completed by the summer of 2009, and was to be financed by its residents and the Malir Cantonment Board.

As soon as work started, it became obvious that NESPAK as engineering consultants for the design had committed serious mistakes. The selected contractor also was a novice, and he had never constructed a sewerage work of this magnitude.

The Malir Cantonment Board also scrapped the proposed sewer treatment plant from the scheme and instead decided to connect the sewer to a nearby existing KDA sewer line.

The sewerage treatment plant was to be constructed in two phases each of 0.25 MGD, while the cost of sewerage network, lift station and half of the treatment plant was Rs90 million, with the recurring cost being Rs50,000 per month.

Now that the lift station and treatment plant have been scrapped, where does the money meant for it go?

The construction work on the project is so defective that the sewer system does not work and it has not even been completed yet. This is due to the fault of the MLC who did not make NESPAK responsible for its construction management and defective design and the contractor for his extremely poor construction work.

The deadline for the project's completion has already passed, and it is only a matter of time before the residents create a hue and cry on learning that their hard-earned money has gone to waste.

The fact is that the Malir Cantonment Board is technically not qualified to handle a project of this magnitude. Rather all stakeholders should be involved in the project immediately.

AFFECTED RESIDENT
Karachi