ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Asad Umar, has said that the federal government fully stands by its commitments relating to the Greater Karachi Water Supply Project (K-IV).

Replying to a question relating to Chief Minister Sindh's statement regarding "wrapping up" of the project, the minister said that the federal government had been regularly following up with the Government of Sindh to move the project forward, however the provincial authorities were yet to process the revised project documents.

He said that the project had been experiencing delays for quite some time due to design-related issues. Umar said that the provincial government engaged NESPAK to review the original design of the scheme. He said that the NESPAK completed the design review, and submitted its report to Karachi Water and Sanitation Board (KWSB). Umar said that the Government of Sindh appointed a technical committee in November 2019, to scrutinise the NESPAK report, and to suggest the way forward.

He said that the technical committee submitted its report to the provincial government with the recommendation that work on the existing alignment might be resumed with necessary modifications. "Therefore, it is clear that throughout this period, the progress of the K-IV project is awaiting provincial government's decision. The Ministry of Planning and Planning Commission has been constantly engaged with the provincial government, and have repeatedly asked the latter to process the revised project document, for early execution of the project," the minister said.

He said that the matter was also discussed during the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) held on 10th June, 2020, wherein it was informed that the Planning Commission had allocated the entire amount of remaining federal share for the project, in PSDP 2020-2021.