Govt buildings in Karachi face loadshedding daily despite timely bill payment, PA told

The Sindh Assembly was informed on Monday that not a single Karachi-based agency or building owned by the provincial government had defaulted on paying its electricity bills to the K-Electric (KE) but even then they had to suffer power loadshedding on a daily basis.

Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani disclosed this while responding to a call-attention notice moved by an opposition lawmaker, Sajjad Soomro, belonging to the Sunni Ittehad Council.

The minister told the House that the provincial government had been regularly paying its dues to the KE every month. He said the power utility resorted to electricity loadshedding in different areas of the city on account of non-recovery of electricity dues.

He explained that the power cuts also affected the functioning of the pumping stations operated by the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation. The local government minister said the Sindh government paid a handsome amount every month to the KE to ensure uninterrupted electric supply to the pumping stations of the KWSC but to no avail.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had a clear-cut stance on this issue that the KE should adopt a mechanism to ensure uninterrupted electric supply to the consumers and institutions, which completely paid their electricity bills in a timely manner, Ghani said.

He added that the sewerage system serving the Lyari area in Karachi was fully dependent upon the pumping stations. He said the pumping stations in the area were deprived of electricity for several hours daily on account of power loadshedding.

He also conceded in the House that almost all the streets and roads in Lyari had been in a state of disrepair due to the laying of gas pipelines. He said a study had been undertaken under the Lyari Transformation Project to rehabilitate the streets and roads of the area.

He disclosed that the study in question had been undertaken on the directives of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He said the Annual Development Programme to be included in the provincial budget for the coming financial year would contain the schemes for rehabilitation of the sewerage and water supply systems, parks, roads and streets in Lyari.

Addressing a concern raised by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MPA Jamal Ahmed regarding water shortage in his constituency PS-130 in Karachi, Ghani explained that water was supplied to the area via two sources: the University Reservoir and Hub Dam.

The Hub Dam provided a 56-hour water supply every 15 days but issues like loadshedding disrupted this flow, the minister said, adding that the University Reservoir supplied water around 18 hours daily.

Ghani also shared details of progress in the ongoing repair and construction work at the Hub Dam canal, stating that it was moving swiftly and would be completed by the end of the year. He maintained that the project would improve water supply to the affected areas in the city. Efforts were also under way to enhance water delivery from the University Reservoir in the next two to three weeks, the local government minister said.