Collapsed sewerage line not replaced after two days

In spite of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s directives for the repair of the 54-inch-diameter sewerage line that collapsed on Monday morning on Club Road in front of the Commissioner House, the authorities failed to complete the repair work on Wednesday.

The sewerage line had collapsed on Monday as the road developed a pothole because of a truck loaded with milk canisters. According to a statement issued by the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB), the line was being repaired on an emergency basis. The water board claimed that the damaged line was excavated by Wednesday evening after which the sewage overflowing in the vicinity had reduced.

By Thursday, the sewage will stop overflowing in Saddar and other adjoining areas, the statement read. It, however, added that the replacement of the damaged line will take at least two more days.

The damaged 50-inch-diameter line, according to the KWSB, was laid 25 feet under the road some 50 years ago. Meanwhile, a senior official of the board claimed that the damaged line was laid more than 60 years back. It was laid before the formation of the Karachi Development Authority. The Karachi Joint Water Board formed in 1953 must have laid the sewage infrastructure in the area, the official maintained.

“The infrastructure has completed its design life a long time back,” the official said, adding that for the replacement of these lines, they had already moved a summary to the Chief Minister House and were waiting for approval.

The entire sewerage infrastructure, according to the official, will have to be replaced all the way from the PIDC to the Atrium Mall in Saddar. He explained that when Sharea Faisal and Club Road were being carpeted last year, they wrote to the CM House for the replacement of the sewerage lines first. “But our proposal was turned down.”

The sewerage system of the area surrounding the Empress Market in Saddar has already been replaced in a project under the World Bank’s supervision. The overflowing sewage due to the collapse of the sewerage line caused severe traffic jams around Hotel Metropole and on the roads leading to Governor House, Sharea Faisal and the adjoining areas.

The trade activities in the Saddar area have been badly affected in the last two days due to the sewage, said Muti Aslam who owns a mobile phone shop at the Saddar Electronic Market. He added that when it was nearly impossible for the shopkeepers to reach their shops, how they could expect their customers to make their way to them.