Major drains to be deepened further for smooth rain water flow

Houses illegally built here on the Mehmoodabad Nullah could be saved. The authorities have switched gears and are looking for solutions that don’t involve demolishing the hundreds of houses constructed on the storm water drains. For now, the anti-encroachment operation has been stopped and the authorities are consulting experts from NED University for another solution. Prof Adnan Qadir, the chairman of the Department of Urban & Infrastructure Engineering at NED University, is one of those experts. He has said that after the recent spell of torrential monsoon rains, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was eager for an engineering solution towards the accumulation of rain water on Karachi’s streets and roads. An engineer himself, the CM held a meeting with the NED engineering team and tasked them with setting a storm water drainage system. The team began work in October and will complete their technical study of all of Karachi’s storm water drains, also called nullahs, by January. Prof Qadir said the NED team has completed a geometrical survey of all 40 main storm water drains in Karachi. They will now have to complete the process and modeling of the drains. They are currently working on the MehmoodabadNullah and focusing on an engineering solution to the problem. “We are going to work on increasing the depth of the MehmoodabadNullah to improve the flow of water on normal days as well during the monsoon season,” Prof Qadir explained. The NED team is working on the depth of nullah as its first priority rather than expanding its width, which was the original plan. The NED engineering team has started its work on the MehmoodabadNullah and the study has three stages, said the professor. So far, they have completed the survey and processing at the MehmoodabadNullah and are working on modeling the nullah. “We will do a comprehensive modeling of the MehmoodabadNullah through a simulation and will check the flow of water running in it,” Prof Qadir said. A simulation is a process through which a computerised model of any study is prepared and run on a computer. Prof Qadir said these are all the engineering solutions the NED team is working on. The team has surveyed all routes and junctions of the MehmoodabadNullah in their study. The mapping of the nullah has been done using Geographic Information System. The process of modeling of the MehmoodabadNullah is currently under way in which the depth, width and cross-sections of the storm water drain are being ascertained. Prof Qadir says the process is in final stage and will be completed soon. He said their first option is to increase the capacity of the MehmoodabadNullah through excavation, adding that the width will be extended by a few feet, but that hasn’t been finalised yet. The NED official said the department will provide a complete engineering solution to the Sindh government. The KMC’s senior director of its anti-encroachment department, Bashir Siddiqui, said the authorities have tasked the East deputy commissioner with talking to all the stakeholders and taking them on board before performing any operation to remove encroachments from the MehmoodabadNullah.