ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar held a meeting to discuss progress on Greater Karachi Water Supply Project (K-IV), and decided to send a summary of the change of execution agency to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), so that the WAPDA could formally take over the project.
MNA Najeeb Haroon, chairman WAPDA, P&D Sindh chairman, Ministry of Water Resources, and senior officials attended the meeting.
In the meeting, the WAPDA was given the go-ahead to hire a consultant at earliest to review the technical issues, and give the go-ahead for the final decision on which the revised PC-1 will be made.
The chairman WAPDA gave a detailed presentation on the project including its physical and financial progress, issues associated with the project, and decisions required for implementation of the project under new arrangements.
The Sindh government assured that the remaining land acquisitions would be completed at earliest.
The meeting emphasised that there is a severe water shortage in Karachi, and therefore, the project needs to be carried out on a fast track, and all the agencies involved are committed to fast track/prioritising the project.
In the previous meeting on the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project (K-IV), Minister Asad Umar had directed the WAPDA to immediately take over the implementation responsibilities of Greater Karachi Supply Project (K-IV), and complete it within the shortest possible time.
He had also directed to develop action plans with clear deadlines for its execution on fast pace.
The Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (Phase-1) was approved by the ECNEC for supplying 260MGD of water to Karachi metropolitan, which is being taken up for implementation by the federal government as part of the prime minister's package for Karachi.
Under the financing mechanism, the project cost was shared by the federal and provincial governments on 50:50 ratio.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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