Karachi to get additional 20 MGD water

KARACHI: The Karachi Water Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) inked an Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) agreement for the construction of the new Hub Canal to increase water supply to the port city, ARY News reported.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Engineer Syed Sallahuddin Ahmed signed the agreement in a ceremony that took place at the MD Secretariat attended by Director Wah Construction Limited Shoaib Shafiq, Colonel Sabahuddin Chaudhry, 3G Consultant Sultan Dogar, Project Director Hub Canal Sikandar Ali, and Chief Engineer Sewerage E&M Syed Sardar Shah.

According to the KWSC Spokesperson, the project includes the construction of a new Hub Canal and the restoration of the existing one. Additionally, the Hub Pumping Station, rising main, and the Hub Filter Plant will be upgraded from their current capacity of 80 Million Gallons per Day (MGD) to 100 MGD.

The project, with a fixed cost of Rs12.76 billion, is expected to be completed within a year. “Once finished, it will significantly improve the water supply to Karachi, particularly in the western district and Keamari,” the spokesperson added.

Earlier, Mayor Karachi Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) is going to ‘resolve’ the persisting water shortage in the city.

The Mayor said that a proposal has been approved to bring additional water to Karachi from the Hub Canal to address the water shortage in the city.

He said that the project, worth Rs 12 billion will provide 200 million gallons of water to the city and is expected to be completed within a year.

Barrister Murtaza Wahab said that another proposal has also been sent to the Sindh government to bring water from Keenjhar Lake to Karachi. He said that the project would cost Rs 77 billion.

He said that the water supply system in Karachi is decade-old which he said is one of the reasons behind the scarcity.

“The water supply system in Karachi from the Hub Dam is 45 years old, which is why only 55 million gallons of water are available instead of 100 million gallons.  A new canal will be built to provide Karachi with 100 million gallons of water,” he added.