The Cantonment Board Clifton is hopeful that DHA residents will never face the nightmarish situation they suffered after the August 2020 rain.
The administration said that it has installed and purchased machines—such as anti-clogging pumps, submersible pumps, engine-driven pumps, petrol-diesel engine trolley mounted pumps, de-watering pumps, and winching machines—-to prevent roads from being inundated.
The board is keeping the machines at its technical workshop near Gizri Graveyard in Phase IV.
It has spent over Rs100 million on their purchase.Draining water from places that fall under CBC’s jurisdiction is a big challenge, said Deputy Chief Executive Officer DrRizwan Ahmed while speaking to reporters. “We are, however, ready to face the challenge.”
He said that a calamity occurred last year because of unprecedented rains and high tides that made it worse.
Teams are working on clearing choking points identified in DHA Phase IV, Khayaban-e-Seher, Phase VI, and Bukhari Commercial, said Imran Khan, the in-charge of CBC’s technical workshop.
Last year, water accumulated in these areas because the sewage system had choked.The board has also installed eight regulator gates at two locations to stop rainwater from entering DHA.
Out of them, five regulator gates are installed near the strip from Seaview McDonald’s to Chunky Monkey.
Three regulator gates will be installed at KPT Flyover near MehmoodabadNullah towards DHA.Khan explained that these gates will be used as a shield to divert rainwater from entering residential areas.
“If there is a high tide, then the admin will close these gates and prevent water from entering residential areas, and if there is a low tide, then we will open the gates to allow rainwater to flow into the sea”, he added.
Last year, experts raised concerns over the stormwater drains in DHA. They questioned why these drains were constructed in the middle of the roads.
They said that the rainwater or stormwater drains are usually built on the side of the road so that water readily flows into them because of gravity.
Dr Ahmed said, however, that these drains were constructed with proper planning and there is nothing wrong with their construction.
