Sindh Minister for Local Government and Public Health Engineering, Saeed Ghani, has said the provincial government has allocated a sum of Rs434 million for the restoration of reverse osmosis water filtration plant in Islamkot, as this allocation is not for any new development project. The Local Government and Public Health Engineering Minister informed this while answering queries of the lawmakers during the question hour of the Sindh Assembly’s session on Tuesday.He told the concerned legislators that Islamkot’s RO plant is a mega water filtration facility having the capacity to filter 1.5 million gallons of water daily. He said the RO plant had been non-functional due to various technical issues.He informed the house that the Engro Corporation had asked the Sindh government to sanction Rs 1400 million for the revival and operation of the RO plant.
The then-provincial cabinet approved the grant, but another assistance of Rs 600 million couldn’t be provided, which was required to operate the plant for four years.He told the house that the former caretaker Sindh chief minister during his visit to Islamkot, formed a committee to evaluate the financial support required to restore the plant. The committee, in its report, recommended that the revival of the plant is possible for Rs 434 million. Ghani told the house that he and the secretary of the department had obtained an undertaking in writing from the committee comprising engineers that they could revive the plant for Rs 434 million.
The committee was assured that qualified staff would be deputed to operate the plant whose operation should be free of any undue interference.Answering another question, the Local Government Minister said that the Public Health Engineering Department had recruited 109 persons as 86 per cent of these jobs had been given under the quota reserved for children of the deceased employees. While the rest of the 14 per cent of jobs were given to special persons as per the court orders. Responding to another query, the Local Government Minister told the house that the areas served by Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation and Water & Sanitation Agency in Hyderabad weren’t included in the jurisdiction of the Public Health Engineering Department.
He said the role and services of the Public Health Engineering Department would further be minimized in Sindh’s urban areas with the setting up of water and sanitation agencies in Sukkur, Nawabshah, and Mirpurkhas. He also told the legislators that the Public Health Department had no role in the under-construction of the K-IV bulk water supply project for Karachi.
