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50MW power station for K-IV bulk water supply scheme approved

By Our Correspondent
April 24, 2018

The 25th meeting of the Public Private Partnership Policy Board of the Sindh government that was convened on Monday approved the establishment of a 50-megawatt power station for the K-IV Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme.

The schemes that came under discussion included the Livestock Tagging project, the local government’s Karachi Theme Park, the English-medium schools project, the Khairpur wholesale dates market and safety & security services at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH).

The meeting, which was chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, was told that the provincial government has decided to establish a 50MW power station for the K-IV project’s phase-I under public-private partnership mode at Pumping Stations No 1 and 2 near the Keenjhar Lake.

The chief executive said the K-IV project’s phase-I envisages bringing 260 million gallons a day (mgd) of water to Karachi. He added that the project requires 50MW of power to meet its energy needs, so it necessities the installation of a dedicated power station to supply 50MW to the scheme. The plant is expected to be supplying power through transmission lines.

CM Shah said the plant is expected to be gas-fired and would have adequate backup supply either on site or through the provision of power from the local distribution company. The Public Private Partnership Policy Board approved the project development funding for the scheme for private partner solicitation.

Karachi

Sindh Local Government Minister Jam Khan Shoro told the meeting that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation has received an unsolicited proposal from a private group for the development of the Karachi Theme & Safari Park at the existing facility of the Safari Park.

The unsolicited proposal is based on detailed technical, financial and legal studies for which the private group has engaged a leading firm. The Public Private Partnership Policy Board approved the project for investors’ solicitation under public-private partnership mode.  

Tharparkar

Education Secretary Iqbal Durrani said Tharparkar is the largest district by land and area, yet it is ranked the lowest in the human development index.

He added that recent developments in the energy sector in Tharparkar has paved the way for improvement in human development by further expanding on health and education services that can greatly reduce inequality and poverty.

The meeting was told that the chief executive has directed the education department to improve the quality of education in Islamkot and Tharparkar by outsourcing the management of public schools to reputable organisations.

The meeting was also informed that during the first phase, a preliminary list of 37 public schools has been identified for outsourcing. Out of the 498 existing schools in Islamkot, he narrowed down the list of schools on the bases of education, gender, availability of existing infrastructure and student enrolment.

Durrani told the meeting that the 37 schools constitute 7.4 per cent of the total number of schools and represent 19.6 per cent of the total enrolled population of Islamkot.

The Public Private Partnership Policy Board approved the launching of the project under the English Medium Organisations model as well as approved private partner solicitation under public-private partnership mode.  

Khairpur

Agriculture Secretary Sajid Jamal Abro told the meeting that Khairpur’s annual production of dates is around 250,000MT, making it the single largest date producing district in the country.

He added that poor logistic and infrastructure facilities in Khairpur with respect to the wholesaling of dates have seriously restricted development of extremely high potential crop. The Public Private Partnership Policy Board approved to launch the project under public-private partnership mode near the Khairpur Special Economic Zone.

The policy board also approved fresh procurement for operations of safety & security services at the NICH, as well as discussed the Livestock Tagging project and terminated it from public-private partnership mode. The CM directed the fisheries & livestock department to include the project in the Annual Development Programme.

Last month the Sindh Assembly was informed that completion of the ongoing work on phase-I of the K-IV scheme could be delayed by a few months instead of completing it by the June 2018 deadline.

The LG minister told the House about the delay while responding to written and oral queries of the concerned lawmakers during the question hour of the legislature’s session pertaining to the LG department.

He said that a number of reasons had been hindering timely completion of the work on phase-I of the K-IV project, which would have the capacity of supplying 260mgd. A delay of two to four months in completing the project is expected, he added.

He said that it had been decided under the agreement signed with the Frontier Works Organisation that work on the first phase would be completed by this June.

He also said that it had been a gigantic task to bring additional water to the city from a distance of 120km. Under the project three filtration plants would be established: one each at Pipri, at the Super Highway near the Baqai University Hospital and at Manghopir, he added.