Senate panel raises concerns over delays and rising cost of K-IV project

KARACHI: The Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources has reviewed the long-delayed K-IV water supply scheme and voiced concern over the project’s extended timeline, mounting cost, and implementation difficulties.

The committee met under the chairmanship of Senator Jam Saifullah Khan and received detailed briefings on the project’s planning, design, cost framework, and progress of work. During the meeting, the chairman questioned why the scheme had remained under development for more than two decades.

Officials told the committee that prolonged litigation had been a major reason for the delays. They said that before the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) assumed control of the project, the scheme had faced 14 cases in the Sindh High Court.

The briefing also outlined the project’s earlier schedule and subsequent revisions. According to the details shared with the committee, the first phase had originally been planned for completion between 2011 and 2015.

Officials said the project’s PC-1 was approved in 2014. The contract was later awarded to the Frontier Works Organization in 2016, with the work at that stage targeted for completion in 2018. The estimated cost at that time was Rs25 billion.

However, the financial outlay has increased sharply over the years. The committee was informed that after the project was made part of the Karachi Transformation Plan in 2020, WAPDA prepared a revised PC-1. That revised plan was approved in January 2022 at a cost of Rs126 billion.

The current estimated cost of the K-IV project has now reached Rs171 billion, according to the briefing given to the committee.

Committee reviews planning and implementation issues

The Senate body examined multiple aspects of the project, including its design and implementation pace, as lawmakers sought explanations for the prolonged delay and repeated cost revisions.

The discussion focused on how a project that had initially been expected to move through its first phase years ago had instead stretched into a 22-year undertaking. The committee’s concerns centred on both the slow pace of execution and the steep rise in expenditure since the project’s earlier approvals.

Officials maintained that legal complications had significantly affected progress, pointing specifically to the cases heard in the Sindh High Court before WAPDA took over the scheme.

The K-IV project has remained under scrutiny because of its long gestation period and repeated changes in cost estimates. In the latest review, senators were briefed on the sequence of approvals and revisions that have shaped the project over the years, from its earlier planning stage to its inclusion in the Karachi Transformation Plan and the latest cost estimate now placed before the committee.

The committee’s latest deliberations highlighted continuing concern over the project’s delayed completion and the burden created by its escalating cost.