Collapsed sewerage line on Club Road repaired

The main sewerage line of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) on Club Road in Karachi’s red zone surrounding the Governor House and Hotel Metropole that had collapsed on Saturday once again in a span of a week was repaired by Sunday night, said a statement issued by the water board.

The sewerage system in one of the most VIP areas of the city consists of more than 60-year-old dilapidated lines.

The KWSB statement said the 54-inch diameter sewerage line was replaced in a span of 24 hours by Sunday night.

Sindh Local Government Nasir Hussain Shah also paid a visit to the site on Sunday evening to inspect the repair work. After replacement of the line, the statement said, work for repairing the road had started.

A sewage line of 42-inch diameter had collapsed on the intersection of Sharea Faisal and Shahrah-e-Quaideen in late July when it rained heavily in the metropolis. In early August this year, another sewage line collapsed on Sharea Faisal near the Metropole Hotel, causing severe troubles to the commuters going to the Saddar area. The sewerage lines in the entire area, according to the water board’s superintendent engineer Aftab Chandio, were laid by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) in 1956.

A senior official of the board believes that before the formation of the KDA there was the Karachi Joint Water Board formed in 1953, which would have laid the sewerage infrastructure in the area. “The infrastructure has completed its design life a long time back,” the official said and added that for the replacement of these pipes they had already moved a summary to the Chief Minister House and were waiting for approval.

The 54-inch diameter sewerage line sank earlier this month after a truck loaded with milk caused a pothole on Club Road in front of the Commissioner House. It took almost a week for the board to get that line repaired.