NESPAK’S Role in Water Resources Development and Dam Engineering

on 21/03/2019

Amid the threat that the next wars would be fought over water, the importance of water is increasing with every coming day.
It is the lifeline object as many have lived without love, not one without water. The water availability in Pakistan has fallen drastically over the years with statistics pointing towards a sharp fall from 5,000 cubic metres per capita in the 1950s to less than 1,000 cubic metres per capita at the moment. It is to be pointed out that the international benchmark of being water scarce stands at 1,000 cubic metres per capita. This unhealthy situation has emerged owing to perpetual neglect of the water issue by the previous regimes in our country. This scenario calls for the construction of dams and water reservoirs on war footings. It is rightly said that if there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. Water is in fact, the driving force of all nature.
As the world in general and Pakistan, in particular, are facing the paucity of this priceless and life-saving commodity, NESPAK is fully alive to the problem and continues to make the contribution to improve the situation by rendering state-of-the-art engineering consultancy services for many mega projects, nationwide as well as overseas, ever since its institution in 1973.
NESPAK made its debut in the field of water resources and dam engineering with the design and construction supervision of the Left Bank Irrigation Tunnel of Tarbela Dam & Hydropower Project back in 1973 and later on kept providing engineering services for the extension works as well as periodic inspections. So far, NESPAK has provided remarkable services for more than 545 water resources projects worth Rs. 2,320 billion within Pakistan and abroad. By virtue of having more than 45 years of valuable experience, NESPAK is fully capable of providing comprehensive services in all fields related to water resources development and dam engineering.
The services for water resources development and dam engineering are being provided by NESPAK both within and outside Pakistan by a highly qualified and well experienced team of about 600 staff, including water resources planners & engineers, hydrologists, dam engineers, geotechnical engineers, agricultural specialists, geologists, irrigation & drainage experts, hydrogeologists, hydraulic engineers, soil & water quality scientists, flood management specialists, GIS experts, environmentalists, institutional development experts, water resources management specialists, sociologists, economists, construction specialists and contract managers.
NESPAK enjoys the unique distinction of being the only engineering consultancy organization in Pakistan to have successfully undertaken the largest number of dam and hydropower projects in Pakistan and 12 other countries in the Middle East and Africa. It has so far, rendered specialized services on a total of 207 dam and hydropower projects; of which 171 projects have been executed in Pakistan and 36 in other countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Jordan, Oman, Somalia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Nepal, Yemen, and UAE. Some of the major dam and water resources projects include Tarbela Dam Project, Mangla Dam Raising Project, 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric Project, 1450 MW Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project, Akra Kaur Dam, Small Irrigation Schemes in Balochistan, Wadi Dayqah Dam Oman, Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Investment Programme, Sindh Water Sector Improvement Project, Kachhi Canal Project, Punjab Irrigation System Improvement Project, Rehabilitating Lower Chenab Canal System etc. Another hallmark of NESPAK is that it has been assisting the government of Pakistan to resolve critical water disputes with India in the domain of the Indus Basin Treaty.
The greatest edge NESPAK has over other national and international consultancy firms of its kind are that it has solutions available for all needs of Clients under one roof. By virtue of having more than 45 years of valuable experience in water resources development, NESPAK is now capable of offering services in all fields related to the water sector. Over the years, NESPAK has acquired the capability and mettle to lead joint ventures of national and international firms to deal with any mega project related to the dam end water resource engineering sector in the country and abroad.
NESPAK is fully capable to provide a complete spectrum of consultancy services for projects related to harnessing and use of water for agriculture, hydropower generation and environment. The services include all levels from conceiving a project to its completion, including master planning, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, project planning, physical and simulation model studies, software development and applications, GIS, remote sensing, detailed designs, specifications and tender documents, construction supervision and contract management, preparation of operation & maintenance manuals, performance and benefit monitoring and periodic inspections. Institutional reforms, capacity building and participation of beneficiaries in development, as well as environmental management and social development, also fall within the purview of NESPAK’s wide range of services in this Sector.
As of today, NESPAK is a leading partner in the development of the country in a sense that whenever quality engineering, diversity, experience, and capability for completing mega projects related to water resources development and dam engineering sector are considered, NESPAK comes as the ultimate choice for such a difficult challenge. Hopefully, the successful journey will continue and NESPAK will keep serving the nation with its technical expertise and keep the national flag high in other parts of the world, with its share for resolving the water issues.
“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes – one for peace and one for science.” John F. Kennedy
(The writer is Managing Director NESPAK)

Road Network of Umarkot City

on 21/03/2019

The city of Umarkot, located in the southeastern part of our country, inherits rich history, tradition, and culture. The town was named after the ancient fort built by Rana Amar Singh; but later on, the fort also attained popularity due to the folklore of Umar and Marvi. The city is also the birthplace of Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Akbar, who was born on 14th October 1542, when his father Humayun retreated and sought refuge from Rana Prasad Singh who was the then ruler of the city.
The splendorous history and outlook of the city have become a past now. The present state of the city is very murky, muddy, and dusty. The conditions of the tertiary streets in the city are pathetic and they are not maintained in accordance with public health guidelines. Extremely patchy and broken streets with sewerage overflow make the situation even grimmer for the residents of the city. In the absence of mosquito fumigation, the health conditions of the city become very hazardous in normal as well as in the rainy season. Thousands of the city residents fall prey to the mosquito-born diseases, especially malaria and dengue infections. While surveying the tertiary streets, no notable development work was seen on them.
The recent allocation of development budget in the district assembly for the district of a population of over 1 million was about PKR 320+ million. The current development budget of Umarkot town committee is also expected to be around PKR 220 million or so (not allocated yet).
The secondary streets connecting two neighbors and markets are also not in good condition. However, some of the secondary streets were repaired recently, but the quality of the work and the desirable effect on the lives of residents was not that impressive. A few of those streets include Marvi market to Thar Bazaar street, Marvi market to Shahi Bazaar street, Khaskheli Muhla street, Old Court street, and others. Despite these dismal conditions, the development work on the secondary streets was better during the past three and a half years as compared to the previous 5 to 10 years, when no local government existed. Before, the present government, the state of city development projects was even in a worse condition.
However, if we inspect the past as well as the present projects from the engineering perspectives, you will find no project that has been completed in accordance with the required specifications and quality benchmarks.
The conditions of the primary streets connecting different parts of the city are not very different from the secondary and the tertiary streets. The road connecting the Jogi colony is in a very bad condition. Many broken road patches and waterlogged holes are extensively seen on the road. The overflow of the sewerage system and leakage of water supply pipes make the conditions even worse. Another primary road connecting the city with the Vehro suburb is in somewhat better condition due to the recent repairing work. But the quality of the work is again questionable.
As far as the connectivity of Umarkot city with the other surrounding cities and towns is concerned, it is connected through national highway and provincial roads. The city is connected to Mirpurkhas through the national highway road, which was recently handed over to the national highway authority NHA. The work on this carpeted road has started from Mirpurkhas side. The present condition of the road from Umarkot to Mirpurkhas is not good enough. It requires more than an hour to drive from Umarkot to Mirpurkhas, which is just 75 km away.
The Kunri-Umarkot road has recently been completed. It is one of the finest roads Umarkot has ever got. This is a carpeted road. The newly constructed road has reduced the traveling time from Umarkot to Kunri significantly. The distance of this road is about 35 km.
Another very important road that connects Umarkot with Mithi and Chachro is in very bad conditions. The volume of traffic has risen on this road due to Thar coal mine projects and other industrial activities in the area. Owing to the abrupt mounds and depressions on the contour of the desert, there are so many curves, elevations, and depressions, which cause serious accidents. The width of the road is very narrow and the wild winds deposit thick layers of sand on the road, which even reduces the width of the road. A wider road is highly needed to reduce accidents, and traveling time to Chachro, Mithi and beyond.
The Umarkot-Chore road is much better, but we cannot say it is satisfactory. The Chore Cantt is also connected through this road that makes it a very critical road. So, it should be constructed properly owing to the criticality of the road relating to the country’s defense.n

10th Civil Engineering Conference connects with Karachi’s issues IEP Karachi decides hosting open forums on K – 4, other projects

on 21/03/2019

The Institution of Engineers Pakistan (IEP), Karachi organized 10th Civil Engineering Conference in collaboration with NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi.
The most striking aspect of this two-day moot was that it focused on real issues the city of Karachi is facing at the moment. ‘This was the relevance and theme of the conference’, said Engr. Sohail Bashir, Chairman IEP Karachi center.
The conference was collaborated by Asian Civil Engineering Coordination Council (Toyko Japan), Federation of Engineering Institution of Islamic Countries (Riyadh, KSA) and Federation of Engineering Institutions South and Central Asia (Colombo, SL).
Also, ACE Pakistan, BUITMS Quetta, Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdar, Sir Syed University Karachi and Sufa University in Karachi were partners in the event.
Engr. Bashir said unlike previous conferences which were more titled to academic and theoretical papers, this conference was linked with the resolution of the issues.
‘We invited people from industry so that the expectation of industry and academia be brought out in the limelight’, he said.
This tradition started from the 4th International Electrical Engineering Conference that the institution organized before this one.
In this conference, Azhar Lodhi from Exponent Engineering depicted in his paper the scenario of Karachi Mass Transit Program.
Abul Khair Masroor talked about earthquake engineering while another senior speaker Rehan-ul-Ambia unveiled as to why engineering projects fail to complete in time and witness cost overruns. He presented case studies of 17 projects and found out who was responsible and how much.
Yet another speaker Bashir Lakhani put forth the fact why Karahi water transport scheme K – 4 is not completed as yet. He shared his information with the audience about the engineering and planning blunders in the project.
Engr. Al Kazim Mansoor (Soilmet Engineers), Salman Ahmed (BSF) and Arif Sattar (NED University) also presented their papers.
Engr. Sohail Bashir said the IEP Karachi had decided to hold an open forum on K- 4 project as they wanted the project to go ahead instead of getting entangled in a blame game.
Another important activity of the conference was that the IEP, Karachi collaborated with UN Inspire, Indonesia and organized an international workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction. Ms. Irina Rafiana, a disaster management expert from Inspire conducted the workshop in which over 30 multidisciplinary young people were trained. They will work as master trainers in disaster risk areas in the province, Engr. Bashir said.n

26th HVACR Expo, conference a new yardstick!

on 20/03/2019

A number of exhibitors and participants who have vast experience of analyzing the HVACR exhibitions were agreed that the 26th HVACR Expo & Conference held in Karachi from February 13 to 15, 2019 was the biggest ever in Pakistan.
Also, the international exhibitors who the Engineering Review talked to saw a huge potential in Pakistani market. As many as 25 countries including China, Turkey, Thailand, USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea participated in the exhibition.
Engr. Noor Afzal, the Chairman of the organizing Committee and also heads PHVACR Society-Karachi Chapter said they had the experience of organizing such shows for many years. The effort of the organizing committee bore fruits, he believed
Chinese and Turkish companies have been exhibiting their products in Pakistani market for a long time now but even Thai companies whose number was six in the exhibitions were also hopeful of making inroads here. They claimed they had a big HVACR industry in Thailand and they were sure Thai products would catch attention in Pakistan.
The exhibition had received overwhelming response from Local as well as International Exhibitors even at the stage of booking of stalls. This time, it was spread over foyer area as well as outer display area.
Along with leading Pakistani and international companies with foreign-made products, there were some which were happy with exhibiting local-made products. They claimed they will gradually compete with Chinese and other countries.
The HVACR Society was working in support of Local industry exhibiting in this expo and Engr. Noor Afzal said they had constituted a task force for encouraging local manufacturing. The committee would also talk to the government so that the objective was achieved.
In this conference, special incentives had been announced such as Special Pavilion and suitable Price Structure for small and medium size Pakistani companies.
This effort was to bring out Pakistani companies in front so that they can participate at an international level event in Pakistan and also to meet new and potential buyers.n

Award ceremony of EA Consulting sponsored ‘CReaTE18’ in NED university

on 20/03/2019

The award ceremony of CReaTE18, the integrated Students Design Competition, sponsored by EA Consulting, was held at NED University of Engineering & Technology Karachi, on 4th February 2019.
This year’s competition title was regarding low-cost housing solution in Pakistan. The ceremony was organized to share the joy and achievements of the young engineers and architects from 3rd and 4th year respectively, who had fully demonstrated their professional talents in this competition.
The program started with the recitation of Holy Quran, followed by the opening speeches from Dr. Amir Qureshi, Director DIL from NED University and Ms. Zerqa Yousuf, Program Head from EA Consulting, who appreciated the efforts of students from Architecture, Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering disciplines to work together as a team and to successfully conclude the whole process with remarkable stride bearing all the challenges throughout the different stages in a contest timeline.
This competition provided young people with a good platform to develop and express their creativity with multiple ways of designing keeping the aspects of practicality for end-users. The young professionals’ outstanding works have also contributed to inspiring the minds of other students and nurturing the cultural atmosphere of NED University.
Mr. Asad I.A. Khan, Chairman of Pakistan Council of Architecture & Town Planning was invited as the Chief Guest who shared his word of inspiration with the students.
Mr. Ahsan Siddiqui, CEO of EA Consulting, presented the token of appreciation to the Chief Guest Mr. Asad Khan and CReaTE18 Program Advisor, Prof. Dr. Noman Ahmed, Dean of Architecture & Management Sciences, who also shared his thoughts about this competition.
The Chief Guest distributed Certificates of Participation to all the teams followed by the Excellence Awards to the runners up “SPARK” team members.
Finally, the CReaTE18 winners’ Trophy and Excellence Awards were presented to the Winning team “EUTHENISTS”: Sohaib Ahmed (Team Leader), Afsheen Younus, Muhammad Hamza, Naseer Ahmed Siddiqui, AmmaraShoukat, Waleed Bin Khalil and NoumanAleem.