KARACHI: The Sindh government has no plan or intention to privatise the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, claimed the newly appointed chief executive officer and managing director Syed Salahuddin.

“Our main goal is to bring more improvements and reforms in the institution,” he told Dawn.

Following the recent appointment of the MD/CEO and chief operating officer in the KWSB, reports have been doing the rounds that the city’s lone water utility would be privatised following the revamp of its system under the World Bank’s financial assistance programme.

The CEO said that privatising the water utility was not the government’s idea. “God willing, the water board will be made a corporation,” he vowed.

He said that his main goal was to improve the water supply and drainage system in the city with the joint cooperation of the World Bank and the provincial government.

He said that the World Bank had given Rs2.5 billion for the improvement of the water supply and drainage system. “In the second phase, the World Bank will give another Rs2.2bn,” he added.

Meanwhile, the water utility chief presided over a high-level meeting, which was attended among others by COO Asadullah Khan, Deputy Managing Director Shoaib Tughlaq and all chief, superintendent and executive engineers of the water board.

Sources said that it was decided in the meeting that all water supply and drainage projects would be supervised by the COO as he had extensive experience in running the water supply and drainage systems of the city in a better way.

They added that the CEO had ordered the official concerned to immediately start strict action against illegal connections and replace the damaged lines.

The sources said that a mobile app would also be introduced for quick resolution of sewage problems, sewage treatment plants would soon be activated and the sewage pumps which had become inoperable would be replaced.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2022