CM to fight to get Centre to pay up funds pledged for S-III project

Sindh’s chief minister said on Monday that the federal government has backed out of its commitment to share 50 per cent of the total expenditure of the Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan (commonly known as the S-III project), terming it an injustice with the people of the province.

Chairing a meeting on the S-III project at the CM House, Syed Murad Ali Shah said he will fight to get the Centre to pay up its pledged share for the sake of the people of Karachi.

The local government minister told the chief executive that the S-III project is aimed at improving the environmental and sanitary conditions of the city through a well-integrated system of collection, treatment and disposal of sewage.

Saeed Ghani said that the existing sewage disposal system lacks treatment facilities and requires a conveyance network for the sewage to divert it to the treatment plants, as it is currently being disposed of in the sea.

The planning & development board chairperson informed the meeting that the project was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for Rs7.98 billion in September 2007.

Naheed Shah said the federal government was supposed to pay 50 per cent of the total cost of the project, while the remaining expenses were to be borne by the provincial administration.

The project was revised and then approved by Ecnec at a cost of Rs36.11 billion on February 7 last year. The project has two components: the Lyari River Basin costing Rs21.31 billion and the Malir River Basin costing Rs14.8 billion.

The project’s scope was increased in the revision, which was why its cost was increased. The project encompasses the transmission of flowing sewage in the Lyari and Malir river basins through the underground RCC (reinforced cement concrete) conduit and its treatment at sewage TPs before its disposal in the sea.

The project also encompasses the enhancement and construction of the TPs, the Malir Trunk Sewer and the Lyari Trunk Sewer, and the upgrade and capacity enhancement of the sewage TP in SITE Town’s Haroonabad from 51mgd to 100mgd.

Also included under this project is the upgrade and capacity enhancement of the sewage TP in Mauripur from 54mgd to 180mgd, and the construction of a new sewage TP in Korangi with the capacity of 180mgd.

Regarding the current status of the Lyari River Basin works, the meeting was told that the rehabilitation of the TP-III for 77mgd has been completed, while five different packages of sewage transmission in the length of 20.151km have substantially been completed.

The contract package of LS-I, LS-II & LS-III of 13.169km were awarded in March, while the contract package of TP-I rehabilitation phase has been completed by 55 per cent and stage-II expansion works have been achieved by 12 per cent.

About the current status of the Malir River Basin works, the meeting was told that the contract package of MS-I, MS-II and MS-III for sewage transmission for an overall length of 14.950km has been advertised, and its bid evaluation report was posted on the Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s website.

The contract package of MS-IV, MS-V and MS-VI for sewage transmission of 10.091km has also been advertised, and the bids received have been sent to the procurement committee for evaluation. The bid for the contract package of TP-IV on the design-build-operate basis has been cancelled, and now re-tendering is being observed on a construction contract basis.

The CM said the Lyari River Basin, where 77mgd is being treated, should be treated further and provided to SITE for industrial purposes. He directed Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah to talk to the Public Private Partnership Unit to devise a plan to invite private partners for tertiary effluent for industrial consumption.

Shah said that with the completion of the S-III project, there will be clean coastal water and it will improve the overall health and hygienic conditions that will boost the fisheries export as well as help conserve the marine ecology.

The meeting was also attended by Finance Secretary Najam Shah, LG Secretary Khalid Hyder Shah, P&D Services Member Khalid Mahmood, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board acting managing director Ghulam Qadir and S-III project director Hanif Baloch.

Digital vehicle cards

Chairing another meeting, the chief executive directed the excise & taxation department to introduce readable digital cards in place of the existing vehicle registration books.

Shah said vehicle registration books have been rendered obsolete all over the world. “We should take advantage of modern technology and introduce readable cards on the pattern of banks so that the vehicles’ details can be read during checking.”

E&T Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla told the CM that his department was given a recovery target of Rs72.872 billion and they would achieve it by the end of the month. The department recovers seven taxes: motor vehicle tax, excise enactment, infrastructure cess, cotton fee, professional tax, property tax and entertainment duty.

The meeting was also attended by E&T Secretary Raheem Shaikh, Finance Secretary Najam Shah, E&T Narcotics Director General Shoaib Siddiqui and Excise DG Shabir Shaikh.