KARACHI: Taking notice of the water supply needs of Karachi with the fast growing population, the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Friday asked the Sindh government to take swift steps to curb the ‘tanker mafia’ and upgrade the existing water supply infrastructure of the metropolis.

The committee decided to convene quarterly review meetings to monitor the K-IV and other important projects and expedite the progress on them and also suggested that a joint meeting of all the relevant senate committees with attendance of Sindh chief minister, Karachi mayor and senior officials was held for resolution of Karachi’s longstanding water and sewerage woes.

The Senate body, which met with Senator Rana Mehmood-ul-Hassan in the chair here at the Sindh Assembly Building, received detailed briefings on the performance of the National Engineering Services Pakistan (NESPAK) and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

Senators Farooq Hamid Naek, Amir Waliuddin Chishti, Abdul Qadir Khan, Att-ur-Rehman, Saleem Mandviwala and Shahadat Awan, along with Members of Sindh Assembly Saima Agha, Shariq Jamal, Rana Shoukat Ali and Asif Moosa attended the meeting.

They raised concerns over the water supply problems in Karachi and unauthorised operations of the tanker mafia, lamenting that the tanker mafia had been allowed to hijack the city water supply, forcing citizens to pay for the water.

The committee recommended that the Sindh government take immediate measures to curb the tanker mafia and upgrade Karachi’s existing water infrastructure in line with the K-IV water supply project and the rapidly growing requirements of the city.

The committee further decided that the matters related to the funding and progress of the K-IV project would be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

The committee suggested convening a single-point agenda joint meeting of Senate Standing Committees on Finance, Planning and Development, Cabinet Secretariat and Water and Power, with participation of the Sindh Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, Mayor of Karachi, Managing Director of KWSC and other stakeholders to resolve water supply and sewerage system issues of Karachi.

The committee was briefed on Nespak’s ongoing development portfolio in Sindh and Balochistan.

It was stated that Nespak was currently executing 82 projects in Sindh with a total estimated cost of Rs1,558 billion, while 17 projects were underway in Balochistan.

The committee expressed serious reservations over the slow pace of work on several projects and delays in their completion and directed Nespak to ensure better monitoring and timely execution.

Ogra high-ups, in their online briefing, informed the committee about monitoring of fuel pumps, oil tankers and supply chain mechanism.

A digital tool Raahguzar has been introduced for customers to help them locate all legal fuel stations in the vicinity using GIS technology, report illegal outlets, check rates, and file complaints.

It was further informed that a Track and Trace System has been installed in 15,000 oil tankers to monitor their movement and it will help identify illegal fuel movement and report it to the enforcement authorities.

In the next phase, digital gauging of fuel pumps will also be introduced to ensure transparency and curb pilferage, it was added.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026