CM, Vawda agree to work together for K-IV project’s completion

Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has urged the federal government to share the escalating cost of K-IV Greater Karachi Water Supply project so that it could be completed in time.

Talking to Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda at the CM House on Monday, Shah said the K-IV project meant to provide 260 million gallons per day more water was the most important scheme for the megacity.

The CM said that the completion of the infrastructure of the first phase of the project would help towards the completion of the remaining two phases, and therefore the federal government must share 50 per cent of the project’s cost.

According to Shah, the cost is likely to be around Rs75 billion, but final estimates were being worked out by experts. He offered that the federal government could conduct its audit of the K-IV project costs whenever it wanted to do so.

Vawda assured the CM that he would talk to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the matter would likely be solved. “We have discussed this issue in our meetings with the prime minister informally but formally it would be discussed very soon,” he said.

The chief minister informed Vawda that he would need his support to get additional water share from the Indus River approved for K-IV. “It has been our stance that people from all over Pakistan live in Karachi, therefore, other provincial governments should share a little portion of their water for this city,” he said.

The federal minister assured the chief minister that he would talk to provincial governments for the purpose too. The two also discussed the implementation of the Water Accord. This matter has been taken up in the meeting of the Council of Common Interests, therefore, the Ministry of Water Resources and Indus River System Authority should get this matter solved, the CM said.

French envoy visits

Meanwhile, the Ambassador of France Dr Marc Barety also called on Chief Minister Shah and discussed different investment opportunities in the province.

The CM informed the ambassador that the provincial government had decided to reconstruct the city’s drainage system. “This system is very old and has either dilapidated or has capacity issues, therefore, construction of a new system is the need of the hour,” he said, urging the ambassador to engage French firms to work with the Sindh government on public-private partnership mode.

Ambassador Barety said that the French were jointly financing the Red Line BRTS project and they would love to invest in other projects. The projects which came under discussion at the meeting include the establishment of desalination plant, water supply system, agriculture, wind energy generation and grid system.

The chief minister said he had recently approved the formation of a grid company so that renewable energy produced could be connected with the grid, and added that French firms could work with his government to establish the grid system.

The ambassador assured the CM that he would invite state and private firms to work with the Sindh government. CM Shah nominated Planning & Development Chairman Mohammad Waseem to coordinate with the French Embassy to move forward in the investment assignment.