Although the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV) Project worth Rs126 billion, the project stands far away from creating a sense of security that the people of Karachi would surely be benefitted from this huge engineering project as it is being trumpeted.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar was one among those who rushed to his Twitter handle to claim the credit notwithstanding the fact that the project would have been given a top priority much earlier and not been fallen into the political trap.
Now that the project is approved, suspicions still continue to surround the project because of its unpleasant past and many experts are asking if all the technical and engineering demands of the project have been completed. Because as they say this project has a remorseful history in terms of design.
However, a senior engineer Engr. Bashir Lakhani from Techno Consult, one of the consultants of the project claims the design of the project is entirely new and is based on pressurized pipelines.
The revised PC-1 with an entirely new design based on Pressurised pipelines from Keenjhar Lake to 3 Reservoirs and Filtration Plants at Pipri, NEK, and Manghopir Road has been approved, says his digital communication.
Besides the design of the project, the quantum of the water would be 260 MGD which of course is much lesser than initially pronounced as 650 MGD. But, a major question makes rounds in the city if water would be supplied to common citizens of Karachi as the destinations of the route have long been creating suspicions in the minds of many.
The project as per the central government that oversees Karachi Transformation projects costing Rs1.1 trillion will be completed by October 2023.
In 2019, a Sindh government investigation report said K – IV was not taken seriously from the very beginning adding PC – II of the project seemed to be the rough work of a child instead of a professional document of significance appropriate to this very important project involving the water needs of tens of millions of people.
The findings of the report said both the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB) and the consultants Osmani & Company Ltd. (OCL) are accountable and shifted responsibility on each other.
The inquiry was done by Aijaz Ahmed Mahesar, Secretary to the government of Sindh.
The systemic failure of checks and control were observed during the planning, preparation, and implementation of K-IV. This was mainly because the Consultants (OCL), who initially prepared PC-II/ Feasibility (including design of K-IV) was rehired during implementation as “Design and Supervision Consultants “with the tasks of, inter alia, drawings and designs of K-IV and review the earlier designs prepared by the PC-II Consultants (who were otherwise to be a different Consultant). Re-hiring, the Consultants who prepared PC-II for PC-I design and implementation Consultancy was not only the conflict of interest but this also set a stage for making more and more mistakes in the preparation of PC-I, its implementation and avoiding systemic controls,” the finding unearths. “This needs to be further investigated as to why and under what circumstances the same (OCL) consultant was repeatedly hired ignoring the conflict of interest,” it recommended.
As per the feasibility study carried out by the KW&SB in the year 2002 as well as the scope of work, services, and TORS clearly define the responsibility of the Consultants, who on the other hand has shifted the responsibility to others.
The findings further say the contention of the consultants that they were not supposed to prepare the PC-I is neither tenable nor justified and contradictory to Feasibility Study (Stage-2).
In any case, the original PC-I was prepared by them, which was clocked, approved, and signed by the officers of Sponsoring Agency {KW&SB} who also ignored to verify that many tasks were found missing in the document.
In its conclusion, the reports said: After perusal of all records and statements made available to the undersigned and keeping in view the findings, it is concluded the K-IV was badly planned since its inception and utter negligence in discharging the duty was also observed at various levels.
As a result, the cost of the program is increased exponentially, and the benefits of the K-IV have not been harvested in time.
Not only the Sindh government, but NESPAK also confirmed the objections raised in the Sindh government’s report.
Interestingly enough, the companies, departments, and the people who were held responsible in the report were not taken to the task.n