S-III project facing delays due to ‘lack of funds’

The KWSB’s Greater Sewerage Plan (S-III) is being delayed because of the failure of the authorities to release funds for the project.

Started in 2013, the project has not yet been completed due to delays in the release of funds. 

It is operational only in Phase I at the Lyari riverbed, where the installation of conduit continues. Phase II in Malir has not yet been initiated.

The S-III project is being delayed due to differences between the federal government and Sindh government over its cost.

Three treatment plants of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board have remained shut for the past decade, and 450 million gallons of untreated residential and industrial sewage were being released daily into the sea, threatening marine life and creating disturbance in ecological balance.

The project had been envisaged during General Pervez Musharaf’s tenure in 2007. At that time, the cost of the project had been estimated to be Rs 8 billion. It was decided that both governments would equally bear the cost.

The KWSB later informed the federal and provincial governments that all three treatment plants had been closed, asking that funds should be released immediately to start the project.

In 2013, a consultant firm, after carrying out a brief study and making PC-1, said the project would cost Rs32 billion. The federal government expressed concern over the high cost of the project, but it agreed to release the funds on the basis of the approved PC-1.

Sources in the KWSB said that the delay in releasing the funds by the federal government was slowing the development work. 

The KWSB has installed a conduit from Mauripur to Yaseenabad. It has to go on till New Karachi.

The sources also confirmed that only 10 percent of development work at the Treatment Plant (TP-I) Haroonabad and TP-III had been completed due to a shortage of funds.

No development work has been carried out at TP-II in Mehmoodabad and TP-IV in Korangi.

If the S-III project is completed soon, it will enable treatment of 480 million gallons of sewage and save the Arabian Sea from pollution.