KARACHI: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) have inked an accord – a water safety initiative pilot project worth Rs 7.6 million – to provide safe and clean pipeline drinking water to around 30,000 housing units comprising 200,000 inhabitants in a designated part of Surjani Town, officials of KWSB have revealed. The initiative was agreed by the KWSB and the UNICEF and as part of the annual work plan 2017, while the accord was signed in 2017 between the local government, water board and the UNICEF. In the first phase, a designated area in Surjani Town has been selected and ring-fenced to ensure proper and adequate chlorination of water in tail end areas. Under the initiative, residents of this area will receive water with a chlorine level of 0.5 pp to 2.5 pp. It was agreed between the parties to pilot this initiative in District West along with establishment of a civic engagement cell to promote the image of KWSB among masses at large. Officials responsible for monitoring and supervising water tanks in housing units will report the level of quality of water to be supplied on a daily basis. Ahsanullah and Arman Khan of UNICEF, focal person Owais Malik, KWSB Chief Engineer Manzoor Yameen, expert social mobilisation awareness programme, and Nasir Siddiqui, executive engineer of Surjani Township district west have been named responsible for the project. Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation, HANDS, under supervision of Maqbool Rao and Mustafa has started providing firsthand knowledge to the area people about the initiative, while informative pamphlets are also being distributed among the locals, said a representative of HANDS. Talking to Daily Times, Owais Malik, Manzoor Yameen and Nasir Siddiqui said that the selected area included 4,4A to 4D, 7A to 7E, Anarkali, Abdullah Abad, Sheeraz and KDA flats. Earlier, repair work on 8, 10, 12, 16, 24 and 36 water supply pipe lines was completed in order to ensure supply of contaminated-free water. Sewerage lines have also been repaired. Owais Malik was of the opinion that the project would be extended to other areas. It might be mentioned that under a World Bank project, 980 filtration plants in parts of city were established in 2005-2009 but none of them was functional. In the same period, an Asian Development Bank project to supply safe drinking water to rural parts of city has also been vanished from the scene on pretext of corrupt practices of department officials concerned. Under United States Agency for International Development project in 2011-12, fate of 86 upgraded water pumping stations in parts of city also went in waste on lethargic attitude of water officials, water entity people claimed. Later, the USAID abandoned further projects citing poor performance of water body officials. Karachi is being supplied 420 million gallons of water per day without any treatment through KWSB water trunk mains. The existing working filtration capacity available today stands 50 MGD from Pipri Filter Plant, 100 MGD from North East Karachi (NEK) K-II Filter Plant and 80 MGD from Hub Filter Plant. Published in Daily Times, May 12th 2018.