Dhabeji pumping station power breakdown disrupts Karachi water supply

KARACHI: A major K-Electric power outage at the Dhabeji Pumping Station late Friday night severely disrupted Karachi’s water supply, according to the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC).

A spokesperson for the KWSC said the outage affected operations at both the K-II and K-III pump houses. While electricity has been restored at the K-II facility, the K-III pump house remains without full power.

As a result, two main pumps at K-III have been non-operational for the past 38 hours, causing significant water supply disruptions across the city.

“Despite the passage of time, K-Electric has not yet resolved the fault,” the spokesperson stated.

The prolonged disruption has led to a shortfall of approximately 171 million gallons of water, leaving several areas—including Nazimabad, New Karachi, Landhi, and Korangi—facing acute water shortages.

Water Corporation officials said they are in continuous contact with K-Electric to expedite repairs and restore full operations as soon as possible.

Earlier, JI Karachi chief Munem Zafar criticized both the federal and Sindh governments for neglecting Karachi in their budgets 2025-26.

“There is nothing allocated specifically for Karachi in Rs3.4 trillion budget. Only Rs165 billion has been allocated for the local government, which is insufficient,” he said.

He further highlighted that the long-awaited K-IV water supply project remains stalled after 22 years, existing only on paper.

“The cost of the K-IV project has now risen from Rs 126 billion to Rs 160 billion, yet only Rs 3.2 billion has been allocated this year instead of Rs40 billion, which is practically an attempt to shelve the project,” Munem Zafar remarked.