KARACHI, March 22: Officials of a Japanese aid agency, the Japan International Cooperation Association (JICA,) on Saturday called on Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan in his office and offered their help in disposing of industrial effluent of the city.

Karachi DCO Mir Hassan Ali, the master-plan officer of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, and representatives of the Federal and Sindh governments were also present at the meeting.

The delegation told the City Nazim that JICA was interested in investing in the city to control environmental pollution as well as in disposing of industrial effluents by using modern techniques.

The City Nazim welcomed the Japanese delegation and assured them that the city government would provide all facilities to JICA for this project.

The delegation was told that Karachi was the biggest industrial city of the country, and sewerage lines of the KSWB were spread over an area of 3,500 miles.

They were also told that used water and effluent discharged from industrial units of three big industrial areas of the city was a real problem for environment and this discharge needed treatment to make it environment friendly. —PPI