Centre, Hubco’s desalination plants to help address water shortage issue: governor

Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair has said that the availability of water is one of most significant concerns for Karachiites as it is of pivotal importance for human consumption. This he said during a briefing by Hub Power Company (Hubco) team led by its chief executive officer Khalid Mansoor at the Governor House on Wednesday.

He further said that keeping in view the persisting shortage of water, the federal government had formulated and announced a water policy with the consensus of all the four provinces. While acknowledging the unavailability of required water in Karachi, he said that the first phase of the K-IV project had been initiated and it would add 260mgd (million gallons daily) of additional water to the city supplies.

The governor noted that the federal government had also announced the construction of a desalination plant in the budget to desalinate sea water, and that would prove to be an immense step in providing potable water to the citizens of Karachi.

While lauding the proposed desalination project of Hubco at its hub plant, the governor said that this project would also be a welcome addition in this regard. He also appreciated the plan of Hubco to make electricity from the garbage of the city and then use this energy for the desalination of sea water and the recycling of sewage for human and industrial use, respectively.

Zubair also commended the efforts of the company in the energy sector in Thar and said that Engro and Hubco were the pioneers in the utilisation of Thar coal. Their plants once operational would produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, he added.

He was briefed about Hubco’s waste to energy and water solution plan in detail on the occasion. He was informed that the Hubco plant could be utilised for the desalination of sea water. Initially, 300mgd potable water could be obtained which would be scalable to 1,200mgd with further expansion.

It was said at the briefing that Karachi produced 470mgd of waste water while the requirement for industrial use was around 200mgd. It was stated that the KWSB had three water waste treatment plants with a combined capacity of 150mgd.

The participants were told that Hubco planned to take over operation and maintenance of these treatment plants and install a tertiary treatment and RO (reverse osmosis) system to produce industrial water. They were told that according to an estimate around 16,500 tons of solid waste was generated in Karachi daily, and Hubco planned to utilise this garbage for producing electricity to operate the desalination and recycling plants to provide potable water to Karachiites and recycled water to industries.

CPEC projects

Governor Zubair has said that due to the improved law & order situation, investments in every sector of the economy are being made, especially in Pakistan’s financial hub Karachi. He was talking with a three-member delegation of Cargill group led by Manging Director Tony Kettinger during a meeting on Wednesday.

He further said that investments were directly linked with the law and order situation. In June 2013, at the time of the formation of the federal government, the law and order and energy crises were existential threats to Pakistan, he observed and added that the government had the political will and decided to launch a massive operation to improve law and order in Karachi, which was duly supported by law enforcement agencies.

Zubair said the Rangers were given special powers to fix the situation in Karachi as it was declared as one of the most dangerous cities at that time by international media. The CPEC projects in the energy sector with $34 billion investment had started to make the difference with regard to energy portfolio, he opined.

While clarifying the misconception about the CPEC, he said that the project was not against any country and on the contrary everyone was welcome to participate. It was a game changer in the real sense and till today as many as 20 billion dollars of investment had been made in various CPEC projects, he added.

The governor said that all macro indications of economy were moving in the positive direction, which was a huge success of the economic policies of the federal government. Pointing towards the situation of the balance of payments, he said that because of the import bill, the balance of payments was disturbed. The huge increase in imports was due to plants and machinery required for various CPEC projects, he observed.

While welcoming the Cargill group’s services during the last 20 years in the province, Zubair stated that every help and assistance would be provided to the group to further expand its agri food activities in Port Qasim Industrial Area.

Tony Kettinger thanked the governor for a detailed overview of the economy. He said that the Cargill group was amongst top three global companies of the private sector with an annual turnover of 100 billion dollars.

He said that the group was engaged in oil, poultry and animal feed business for the last 20 years in Pakistan. The international community is fully aware of the potential of Pakistan and no multinational could ignore a market of the size of Pakistan, he observed. He said that the Cargill group was seriously planning to expand its operations by investing more in agriculture and food sectors.