KARACHI: Cleaning of storm-water drains and sewers in the metropolis before the upcoming monsoon in June seems improbable as the proposed work is unlikely to begin before mid-July owing to technical and legal snags.

While confiding this to Dawn on Saturday, informed sources said the work on cleaning of drains might not be kicked off before the middle of July if the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation went by the legal formalities for the execution of the task.

They said the KMC did not have the requisite gear and machinery for de-silting the drains and the work would be outsourced by inviting bids from private contractors.

We are ready to start work, but can’t move ahead without funds, says mayor

KMC’s senior director for co-ordination Masood Alam said the process of inviting tenders was likely to be initiated on April 24. “But the process will be initiated only after we get funds.” The sources, however, said that the provincial government was still dragging its feet on releasing Rs500 million to the KMC despite the fact that the chief secretary had assured on April 17 the Supreme Court-mandated judicial commission on water and sanitation that the funds would be released within two days.

Mayor Wasim Akhtar told Dawn that he had learnt that the chief minister had approved the summary, but funds had not been released till today.

“We are ready to start work on the cleaning of drains, but can’t move ahead without funds”, he said.

The KMC has identified 26 storm-water drains as in very poor condition, needing de-silting before the wet weather. These drains included Frere Nullah (Clifton Nullah), Manzoor Colony Nullah, Mehmoodabad Nullah, Korangi Nullah, Nehr-i-Khayyam, Hub River Road Nullah and Shershah Nullah.

Sources said the KMC had worked out a procurement mechanism for cleaning and de-silting storm drains and requested the provincial government in February to allocate funds for the purpose.

They said the provincial authorities had been informed that no work on the cleaning of drains had been carried out since December 2013 and most of the storm-water drains were in a poor condition.

The sources said the KMC had asked for Rs500m each for cleaning of drains and repair of machinery. However, the provincial government approved only Rs500m for cleaning of drains, they said.

KMC insiders said that there were about 200 articles of heavy gear and machinery such as trucks, dumpers, loaders in the corporation which it had used in 2009 and 2010. They said only 40 vehicles were in running condition, while the rest of them were ruined and rusted.

The KMC’s senior director said that there were over 500 small and big drains in the city and 30 of them discharged water directly into the sea.

“But, unfortunately, over time these drains have been heavily encroached upon, leaving no space for de-silting machinery to operate,” he said.

He added the KMC had already started its work and engineers of the respective storm-water drains had been asked to assess the quantum of work and make bill of quantities within three days. “The tenders will be invited through the press as and when we get funds from the provincial authorities,” he said.

However, the sources said that there was a lengthy and cumbersome procedure of formalities for procurement under the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and if the KMC went by the rules, it would be able to issue work orders to contractors not before mid-July.

They said the deadline for cleaning the storm-water drains could be met only if the process was initiated on an emergent basis without going through the procedure.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2018