HYDERABAD: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Saturday said the K-IV Water Project for Karachi was a dream and that sincerity of his provincial government has turned the project into a reality.
This he said while talking to media after getting briefed from Frontier Works Organization’s (FWO) Commanding officer Lt Col Usman Aftab at Keenjhar lake, in Thatta district. Sindh Minister Local Government Saeed Ghani, DG FWO Major General Inam Hyder Malik, MD Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Khalid Mehmood Shaikh, Project Director K-IV Asad Zaman, Deputy Commissioner Thatta Mohammad Nawaz Soho and other officers of FWO and KWSB.
The chief minister said that K-IV Project was planned for providing 650 MGD or 1,200 cusecs water supply to Karachi to be implemented in three phases.
He said that K-IV project was ill-conceived in which major components such as a bridge on Nooriabad-Thatta road on the canal, 50-MW power plants, small and big bridges, land acquisition, pumping stations were not included.
“When the project started the cost of the project went up and up because necessary components were being included,” he observed.
According to him, the initial feasibility study for the Project was carried out in July 2007, which finalized the route of K-IV project.
“There were nine options among which the alternate route which was route number-8 was selected based on technical feasibility and for being economical,” he said.
He recalled that the PC-1 for K-IV Project Phase-1 for 260 MGD was prepared in 2010. “However, due to delay in processing and approvals, it was finally approved in the year 2014 by ECNEC. The actual execution of K-IV Project Phase-1 started in June 2016, which was 9 years after the feasibility study was finalized,” the CM said.
The chief minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah told the media that Project Steering Committee (PSC) was never formed for K-IV Project owing to which many problems cropped up over the duration of the project due to lack of a formal mechanism for redress at the higher policy level.
He added that a broad-based composition of Project Steering Committee for K-IV Project as well as the supplementary projects, under the chairmanship of Chairman P and D had been constituted.
Shah said the Supreme Court mandated Water Commission passed several directives to resolve bottlenecks and speed-up progress of K-IV Project.
They include regular monitoring of progress of K-IV Phase-1, settlement of the issue of route realignments, preparation and early implementation of supplementary projects, he added.
Syed Murad Ali Shah told the media that the Sindh government had released Rs. 15.05 billion while the federal government had released Rs. 12.15 billion.
“Still Rs. 51.3 billion are required which include Rs. 26.7 billion by the Sindh government and Rs. 24.6 billion by federal govt. We would finalize the detailed cost estimates of the project which were being estimated around Rs. 75 billion,” he concluded.
According to the project report, the PC-I of K-IV project was initially prepared for 130 MGD in September 2007, for Rs15.81 billion.
The PC-I was revised for 130 MGD in May 2010, for Rs. 19.29 billion and in May 2011, it was revised again and increased for 260 MGD and based on a preliminary design with an estimated cost of Rs. 29.76 billion was submitted for approval.
The PDWP approved the PC-I at 33 percent cost sharing between federal government, Sindh government and City District Government Karachi.
The PC-I of Rs. 25.55 Billion was approved by Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in July 2014, with 50 percent cost of Rs. 25.55 billion to be shared between Sindh and the federal governments.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECNEC) subsequently approved the PC-I and the administrative approval was issued by the Sindh government in August 2014.
The Sindh government awarded K-IV Project Phase-1 to M/S Frontier Works Organization (FWO) in March 16, 2016, with a completion time frame of 24 months within the cost of PC-1. An initial bid of FWO was well above the PC-1 cost of Rs. 25.5 billion and the project was divided into packages.
The package A comprised of laying of Conveyance System (Civil Works), whereas Package-B comprised of electrical and mechanical components with components of Civil Works of Pump Houses and Filter Plants.
The Package-A with reduced scope of work was signed for Rs15.254 billion in July 2016, whereas Package-B was signed for Rs12.9 billion after considerable delay and with reduced scope of work, in August 2017. The total cost awarded to FWO was Rs. 28.187 billion which has now increased slightly to Rs. 29.136 billion. The land for K-IV was acquired for Rs. 5 billion including 1,052 acres private land and 11,936 government land. The provincial government has released Rs. 3.75 billion and another tranche of funds was in the pipeline.
However, the complete possession of K-IV Right of Way (ROW) is yet to be received by the FWO. According to the report, augmentation of the project was planned to connect 3 filter plants of K-IV Project with an existing bulk water supply system of KWSB. “Augmentation project, which should have been initiated simultaneously with the K-IV Project, was not initiated by concerned stakeholders,” the chief minister told the media.
The design of augmentation was finally initiated in April 2018, which had been completed. In the energy component, the power supply of 50MW to the pumping stations was planned to be provided through Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) initially. In February 2018, he -the CM Sindh- decided to establish 50 MW power plant for the pumping stations of K-IV Project Phase 1 on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
The government has also formulated a separate PC-1 for ancillary works and accordingly, the PC-1 was being finalized costing Rs. 9.829 billion.
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