Murad vows to install desalination plant, generate power from waste

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has reiterated his commitment to ensure the availability of water required for drinking and industrial purposes in the city a well as the utilisation of solid waste for power generation.

He was chairing an important meeting at the CM House on Monday. Among others, the meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Minister for Women Development Shehla Raza, CM adviser on law Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem and Chairman Hubco Habibullah Khan, Director Aly Khan, and CEO Khalid Mansoor.

The chief minister said that Karachi was receiving 583 MGDs (million gallons daily) water from Keenjhar Lake, and 100 MGDs from the Hub Dam. “This supply of 683 MGDs water from both sources comes to 80 percent of the total requirement leaving the city with a shortfall of 550 MGDs,” he said and added the solution to demand and supply lay in a sea water desalination plant.

He also pointed out that 16,550 tons of waste was generated daily in the city out of which only 20 per cent was recycled. “Therefore, I want to utilise the waste for the generation of electricity,” he said.

The Hubco team told the chief minister that the issues of water scarcity, waste water and solid waste management could be resolved by making sea water desalinated and waste water-recycling, while energy could be generated from solid waste. It was pointed out that the total water demand of Clifton Cantonment Board and DHA Phase 1 to VIII was 14 MGDs, out of which 6 to 7 MGDs was being supplied by the KWSB and there is still a gap of 7 to 8 MGDs. The Hubco offered to use the Hub plant for desalination. Its capacity would be 300 MGD, scalable later to 1,200 MGDs. Its officials said that sea water intake and outfall channels of the plant were available for the purpose.

Waste to energy

The Hubco team told the chair that if all of Karachi’s non-recycled waste (13,240 TPD) was utilized, it could generate around 200 MWs of electricity and could also produce 175-190 MGDs of water.

The chief minister said that waste-to-energy projects could be executed under the Public-Private Partnership arrangement with the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

He said that Hubco and the Sindh government could work together and for the purpose he directed Chairman Planning & Development Board Mohammad Waseem to firm up a detailed proposal for the purpose. The Public-Private Partnership unit of the Sindh government could also work on the project, he said. The chief minister also directed the P&D chairman to examine how much waste could be provided on a per day basis for the generation of electricity and how much land would be required to install such a plant at the landfill site.

The P&D and the Sindh public-private partnership unit, after considering the main idea of providing desalinated water to Karachi, power generation from solid waste and the recycling of waste water for industrial purposes, would make its proposal and submit it to the chief minister for his approval.