The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, taking notice of water supply issues of Karachi, on Friday urged the Sindh Government to take swift steps for curbing the tanker mafia and upgrading existing water infrastructure of the metropolis at par with the growing population. The Committee decided to convene quarterly review meetings to monitor the K-IV and other important projects and expediting progress on them and also suggested holding a joint meeting of all the relevant senate committees with attendance of Sindh Chief Minister, Mayor Karachi and senior officials for resolution of Karachi’s long standing water and sewerage woes.
The Senate body, which met with Senator Rana Mehmood-ul-Hassan in the chair at the Sindh Assembly Building, received detailed briefings on the performance of the NESPAK and the OGRA. They raised concerns over the water supply situation in Karachi and unauthorized operations of the tanker mafia, lamenting that the tanker mafia has been allowed to hijack the city’s water supply, forcing citizens to pay for water.
The Committee recommended that the Sindh Government should 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 KWSC and other stakeholders to resolve water supply and sewerage issues of Karachi.
The Committee was briefed about 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 Rs 1,558 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 tank lorries 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 tank lorries to monitor their movement and it will help identify illegal fuel movement and report it to the enforcement authorities, they informed, adding that in the next phase, digital gauging of fuel pumps will also be introduced to ensure transparency and curb pilferage.