Daily Times

KARACHI: Japan government has shown interest in financing and providing technical assistance in projects of water filtration and sewerage treatment in the city.

Toshikazu Isomura, Consul General of Japan in Karachi visited Younsabad Desalination plant and the construction sites of Haroonabad Treatment Plant (TP-I) and Mauripur Treatment Plant (TP-III) on Friday.

During his visit, Toshikazu told the Daily Times that he was hopeful that the Japanese would consider the requisition of the Sindh government in these projects.

He said that a team from Japan International Cooperation Agency and another team consisting of relevant personnel including investors and experts would reach Karachi on June 29, 2018.

According to Isomura, the visiting members of Japanese teams would meet government officials and concerned representatives of civic bodies in order to gather firsthand knowledge about these projects.

He added that the visiting teams would also meet with officials handling desalination, treatment and filtration of water in the city in order to take stock of the matters for future cooperation.

He said that the team was also interested in talking to the contractors of treatment plants and water filtration project.

During his visit, the Consul General commented that he was pleased to see heavy Japanese machinery being used in the projects.

Talking to officials of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), project directors, consultants and contractors of the projects , the Japanese envoy said that the generation of power through treatment plants should be made possible and projects of bio-gas should be inducted in order to get cheap energy and fertiliser.

He said that the scarcity of water could be overcome by making use of treated water for industrial purposes.

On seeing the discharge of untreated water into sea, the Consul General of Japan advised the officials to take appropriate steps to combat the discharge of effluents in the sea. He said that the Japanese government would offer assistance to the government in this regard.

He was then informed by consultants that due to untreated water , within a radius of 25 kilometers into sea, marine life was being affected.

The Japanese envoy, in reply, said that the discharge of untreated water into the sea could be curbed within a period of two years if a proper treatment facility was available.

Contractor of TP I and TP III Projects, Irshad Hussain, informed the envoy that the first treatment plant in Karachi with the capacity of 77 million gallon per day (MGD) treatment would start to function by end of July this year. He said that work on this project including primary and secondary channels, canal, culverts and hoses etc was almost completed.

The Japanese envoy, while visiting sites reserved for the construction of TP-I and TP-III, got briefed on the progression and current capacity of these project. He was also told about the sites of old and new sewerage conduits.

The envoy was informed that all this had become possible with the directives of Chairman Water Commission (WC) , Justice (retd) Ameer Hani Muslim.

“We are maintaining standard of projects on strict directive of Water Commission and KWSB,” remarked Hussain.

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.