KARACHI, May 7: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has initiated paperwork on the proposed Darwat and Dawo Dam located some 80 kilometres from the city near Super Highway in the jurisdiction of Thatta district.

A source in the KWSB said work on the dam was started in 1974, but it could not be continued due to some reasons.

He said the site, basically a rainwater stream, was located on the eastern side of the Hub Dam in between 300 feet high Khirthar hillock where rain water was found almost round the year.

It was learnt that the site had vast catchment area and could further be expanded even equal to the existing Hub Dam as the rainwater from the Sehwan district side could also be diverted towards it.

“Work on pre-feasibility has been started to be completed within 45 days” the source said.

It was informed that the newly appointed Managing Director of the KWSB, Ghulam Arif Khan, vice-chairmen Moin Khan and Imamuddin Shehzad accompanied by senior officials Chief Engineer Ali Mohammad Palejo and Mashkoorul Hasnain had recently visited the site and directed the officials of planning and development to prepare pre-feasibility and PC-II of the dam to be sent to the provincial government for approval.

It was learnt that with the construction of the Darwat and Dawo Dam the problem of water shortage in various parts of the metropolis would be met to a great extent. Referring to some officials of the Meteorological Department, he said the Darwat area was receiving more rains as compare to Hub, adding that there were more chances of success.

According to KWSB officials, presently 100 million gallon water is being received daily from Hub Dam. Efforts were made to contact the spokesman of the KWSB, but he was not available for further comments.