Daily Times

Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB)’s Treatment Plant IV, a component S-III project would face further delay owing to ill informed decision by Board of Revenue (BoR) regarding allotment of land, officials of KWSB have informed.

Due to absence of the facility, toxic industrial and other industrial waste water is currently discharging into sea. This has polluted seawater within 100 kilometres radius.

The BoR has so far failed to cancel illegal allotments on 150 acres of land out of total land of S-III projects, officials disclosed.

The S-III project land (reserved land status) had been allotted to KWSB in 1989. The 150 acres of land allotted on illegal grounds was facing toward the main road.

In this connection, Supreme Court had already ordered BoR for cancellation of allotted land in question. However, even the interventions of water commission could not resolve the issue.

Though it has no utility, the 300 acres of land is under possession of KWSB at present, officials KWSB maintained. “The front portion of land has been illegally allotted which was a prime part of land of S-III project”, Project Director S-III Noor Ahmad opined.

If this piece of land is not given to KWSB for this project, department would have to change design of S-III, that will cost millions of rupees to civic entity besides, the entry to main installation would become difficult as this allotment is a hurdle in ease of access to the main project installation and machinery, Noor Ahmad disclosed.

This project situated at Korangi Creek after completion will treat 300 million gallon of waste water per day for discharge into sea. The BoR, instead to act in compliance of SC orders, has allotted sea-offshore land to water entity. An aero club has also been given land by BoR on the same sea side, which would disturb smooth function of this sewerage project, he added.

Water entity is not in favour of such step taken by BoR. In this regard, Project Director wrote three letters to BoR and other concerned government departments-reference numbers PD/S-III/KWSB/2018/1043, March 16, 2018 to member land utilisation, BoR, PD/S-III/KWSB/2018/1104, April 25, 2018 and PD/S-III/KWSB/2018/1212, June 27, 2018- as reminders. He had requested to clarify changes and address issues of major deviations and variances between previously provided land allocation plan and currently provided demarcation plan for reservation of land for construction of sewage treatment plant.

The SC in CP-38/2016 in an order on January 14, 2018 vide Para 1/n iv-(i), asked for “The setting up of new treatment plant for disposal of municipal, hospital and industrial waste into sea;” therefore all illegal allotment should be cancelled and turned into useful mode of waste disposal.

It is pertinent to mention here that PC-1 of S-III project has been approved by Executive Council of National Economic Committee on February 7, 2018, following which administrative approval of revised PC-1 was accorded by Sindh Finance Department on March 6, 2018 vide letter FD.SO(DEV-VI)1(262)/S-III/06-07.

Technical and financial bid has already been completed and even KWSB bid committee at present scrutinising two contractors for awarding one of them to carry out this job.

Published in Daily Times, January 22^nd 2019.