Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA) has issued notices to all seafood processing plants to build septic tanks, a primary step towards implementation of European Union (EU) specifications to contain the polluted water and solid waste from further spilling into the harbour's water.
Talking to Business Recorder on Monday, the Director, Engineering Department of KFHA, Shams-ul-Haq Baloch said that the non-construction of septic tanks inside these plants has brought about the blockage of harbour's overall sewerage system, resulting in a spread of unhygienic conditions there.
'The over spilling of sewerage lines over berths of the harbour and into its channel is not only contaminating the water and endangering the existence of marine animals, but also making the whole harbour unhygienic with odour. It also makes the catch unhygienic,' he said.
However, the Engineering Department has controlled the overflow of sewerage water by installing machines on these lines connecting around 106 manholes of the harbour and also with the processing plants, he said, adding that their cleaning and maintenance work continued unabated.
Baloch further said that the work for improvement of sewerage systems has recently been undertaken, which could succeed only if these processing plants establish septic tanks and contain the sludge and untreated water generating from them.
The KFHA advised all the owners of processing plants to establish the proposed tanks and in case of their failure, the Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) will seal off their factories, he said while quoting the Federal Minister for Fisheries, Humayon Aziz Kurd.
Maintenance of sewerage inside the export zone of the KFHA is a part of the harbour's rehabilitation and expansion project, he said, and added that the choked sewerage lines were opened after 18 years. The KFHA is presently carrying out evaluation of tenders it had floated for bids of janitorial services, which is expected to be completed between March 15 and March 20, a KFHA official said.
He also said that the successful firm would be responsible for keeping the sewerage infrastructure maintained. The KFHA is also considering sending a request to the provincial government to ask the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) to set up a water treatment plant on Lyari Nadi, wherefrom contaminated and untreated water spilling into harbour's channel and cause pollution, he added.
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