K-IV water project to be completed in 2023, says Wapda

The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) awarded three contracts worth Rs98.5 billion for the construction of Phase I of the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme – also known as K-IV -- to supply 260 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to the city.

A ceremony to sign the contract documents was held on Thursday at the Wapda Mega Hydel Projects Complex in Lahore in the presence of Water Resources Federal Minister Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah.

Wapda Chairman Naveed Asghar Chaudhry, Wapda member (water) Javed Latif, Wapda member (power) Jamil Akhtar and representatives of the consultants and the construction firms concerned also attended the ceremony.

The Wapda general manager (South) projects/ project director K-IV and representatives of the contractors signed the contract documents on behalf of Wapda and the construction firms respectively.

Addressing the ceremony, Federal Minister Shah said K-IV was a vital project for Karachi, as it would help address the issue of the water supply to the cosmopolitan city and economic hub of Pakistan. Expressing satisfaction over Wapda for streamlining the project, he said that today was a big day for K-IV and hoped that the project would be completed in accordance with the timelines. Earlier, the Wapda GM (South) projects/PD told the minister that Phase-I of K-IV project to be constructed to be in District Thatta and Karachi’s Malir and West districts, with approved PC-I of Rs126.5 billion, envisages a supply of 260mgd of water to Karachi.

The project would be constructed through eight packages, of which two had already been awarded, three were being awarded today, while the remaining three would also be awarded in the next 10 days. Two contractors had been mobilised to the site and the construction of the project would commence in the first week of July. The Phase-I of K-IV was scheduled to be completed in October 2023, the minister was told.

The three contracts signed on Thursday were: Contract Package K-IV – PL-I worth Rs52.71 billion for pressurised water transmission, MS pipelines and allied works from RD 0 to RD 64+200; contract package K-IV PL-II worth Rs28.846 billion for pressurised water transmission MS pipelines and allied works from RD 64+200 to RD 111+700; and contract package K-IV – PS worth Rs17.40 billion for engineering procurement and construction (EPC), turnkey contract of pumping station (civil, electrical and mechanical works).