ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the impression of abandoning mega projects in Karachi, Federal Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that the federal government fully stands by its commitments relating to the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project (K-IV).
According to a press release, the minister clarified that the project has been experiencing delays for quite some time due to design related issues.
Replying to a question relating to the Sindh chief minister’s statement regarding the project’s ‘wrapping up’, Asad Umar said that the federal government has been regularly following up with the government of Sindh to move the project forward, however, the provincial authorities are yet to process the revised documentation.
He explained that the provincial government had engaged NESPAK to review the project’s original design.
“NESPAK completed the design review and submitted its report to Karachi Water & Sanitation Board (KWSB) after which the Sindh government, in November 2019, appointed a technical committee to scrutinise NESPAK’s report and suggest the way forward. The technical committee had submitted its report with the recommendation that work on the existing alignment may be resumed with necessary modifications soon after that,” he said.
“Therefore, it is clear that throughout this period, the progress of the K-IV project is awaiting the provincial government’s decision. The Ministry of Planning and Planning Commission has been constantly engaged with the Sindh government and have repeatedly asked the latter to process the revised project document, for early execution of the project,” he added.
Further, the minister said that the matter was also discussed during the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) held on June 10 this year wherein it was informed that the Planning Commission allocated the entire amount of remaining federal share for the project in PSDP 2020-21.
“Further resources could be considered once the revised PC-I of the project is made available,” he said.
The minister said that the federal government realised the significance of the K-IV project and was committed to playing its due role, however, the execution of the project remains in the provincial domain which needed to be expedited so that the citizens of Karachi could receive the water they badly need.
