The K-IV bulk water supply project that should have been ready by this year is likely to never see the light of day—not just because it was badly designed and financially planned from inception but because a connecting canal needs to be upgraded to carry the water from the River Indus. K-IV is the fourth of Karachi’s water supply projects since 1953. It was planned as a system of three canals that would be built one by one to carry new water supplies to Karachi’s existing KW&SB network. The first canal would carry 260 million gallons a day from Keenjhar lake and the idea was to later build the last two canals to slowly ramp up supplies to 650 million gallons a day. Today Karachi’s people need 1,200 million gallons a day but get less than half. By 2018 when construction hit major snags, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah halted work. He formed three committees of official engineers, top-tier bureaucrats and well-respected academics to examine the critical feedback elicited from independent engineering firm Nespak on Osmani & Co Ltd’s original designs of the canals. Osmani had won the contract to design K-IV in 2005 and the hope was that the first canal would be built by 2011 for Rs25 billion. The Sindh Cabinet led by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah met June 17 and approved the committee proposals on how to progress with the first canal. The Technical Committee proposed that designer Osmani go over the hydraulics, stability of canal slopes, possibility of seepage in the deeper cross-sections, redesign the cross drainage system that carries run-off from the Kirthar hills when it will rain. It should do geotechnical testing where Nespak has identified and revisit the design for seismic analysis . The committee proposed the government should stick to the original route. Nespak had, however, raised questions about this choice. For the record, the CM told the cabinet that route “has always remained questionable.” It passes through bad terrain, and goes through Bahria Town and very close to DHA City. More importantly, the committee proposed that Osmani do all this fixing at no extra cost. It said that the FWO, which was constructing the canals, would get these reworked designs checked. Embarrassingly so, the committee said Osmani should get competent professionals on the job, given the problems Nespak has pointed out. Once the reworked designs are ready, a revised PC-1 or budget proposal would have to be prepared. This means the whole process of building these canals is still going to cost the Sindh taxpayer more. The CM said he wanted the project completed as soon as possible and the local government department ensure the revised PC-I be submitted early so it can be discussed with the federal government. He stressed that it must ensure design corrections Nespak has pointed out. One of the major problems with the planning so far was that essential pieces of the K-IV system were not factored in. This included pumping stations, power plants to run them and filtration plants to clean the water being supplied to the city. All of this has to be done now. In the cabinet meeting, the chief minister was candid about the problems K-IV has been facing due to faulty planning and implementation. He is faced with the unenviable task of completing this behemoth task. Not only are the sins of engineers and bureaucrats past coming to haunt his administration but he has to battle for more water quotas for Karachi to even get this project’s first drop into the city’s taps. Earlier incorrect costing, financial and physical planning has compromised this project from inception. Departments kept revising costs to cover up earlier mistakes. Murad Ali Shah’s administration will have to find the money to pay to finish K-IV. He noted that the earlier plans and budgets entirely skipped essential and supplementary components, which will now cause not only more delays but ramp up the cost. This time he wants the revised costs and modified design to ensure that no essential component is missed out.
