KARACHI, April 28: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that with the improvement of facilities in Karachi, the investment climate will improve and boost the economy.

“All efforts of the local, provincial and federal governments should focus in this direction, which will be better for Karachi, Sindh and Pakistan, and will lead us forward,” he added.

President Pervez Musharraf was speaking after the ground- breaking ceremony of the Karachi Water Supply Scheme 100 mgd (K-III) project on Sunday, opposite the Karachi University where salient features of the project were also highlighted with the help of slides. The stage was shared with the President by Sindh Governor, Mohammedmian Soomro; Corps Commander, Lt-Gen Ghazi; Naib Nazim, Tariq Hasan and KWSB Managing Director, Brig Muhammad Bahram Khan.

Referring to the project, he termed it a very important project for Karachi and said that if drinking water could not be supplied to the people, what is the use of such a government.

The President recalled that when he was made COAS, he was informed about the 40 mgd Karachi water supply project which was to be completed in two to three years and at a cost of Rs2 billion. This was the first project which was gotten completed by the Army within a year at a cost of Rs100 million only.

Terming it the first gift of the Army to Karachi, he said: “No doubt law and order is the basic requirement that needs to be addressed at first. Water, power, sewerage and solid waste system has to be corrected and brought in order. There is need for the mass transit and mass transport system and to improve the traffic system. Then, there should be recreational spots and if all this system improves, this will improve the investment climate and give a boost to the economy, which will be good for Karachi as well as for Pakistan.”

He said that he was happy that the K-III water project had taken off and asked the water board to ensure that the project gets completed strictly on time and within allocated funds, as against the past practice when projects used to be completed in six to eight years and at an escalated cost.

The President expressed his pleasure on knowing that additional water would be supplied first to areas that suffered chronic shortage. However, he said that the water needs of commercial and industrial areas should also be met, as he knew that there was also water scarcity. “The water supply in industrial and commercial areas would help revive our economy and will be better for Pakistan,” he added.

Gen Musharraf said that he was happy to know that the benefit of the completion of the project would also go to the people and the industrial area of Lasbella, Balochistan, where due to drought, the Hub Dam has dried up. If the situation, which has persisted for the last few years continued, more projects would have to be conceived, he added.

The President said that with the passage of time, the economy of Pakistan would improve and more attention would be paid to Karachi which is a “mini-Pakistan” and as such, its future needs would also be taken care of.

Earlier, presenting the welcome address, Brig Bahram Khan highlighted the salient features of the project and gave a brief background of the sources of bulk water supply to Karachi. They include River Indus through Keenjhar Lake, located at 100kms and at present supplying 450 mgd water. The other source is the Hub Dam with a provision of 10 mgd water supply. But for the last four years, there was drought in its catchment area and as a result, Karachi did not receive water during the last two years. But now, since August 2001, supply of 30 mgd has been restored. Besides these two sources, the water board was also getting 1.5 mgd water from Damloti wells, Gen Musharraf said.

He said that the first water supply of 100 mgd project was completed in 1998. Later, under the Khushal Pakistan Programme and through short-term measures, Karachi was supplied 10 mgd water in 2001, which helped in the improvement of water supply to Orangi, Baldia and Site Town settlements. After the K-II project, no big project was initiated, while the population went on to increase at the rate of 5 per cent. As a result, Karachi population had increased from 9.8 million in 1998, to 12 million, increasing the water requirement of Karachi to 594 mgd daily, leaving a gap of 100 mgd water daily in demand and supply.

He expressed gratitude that when the government was informed about this gap, the President gave his consent of the 100 mgd K- III project. Brig Bahram said that the project had been prepared by engineers of the water board which would be completed within three years at a cost of Rs6.1 billion, as against the K-II project which was prepared by foreign consultants and completed in 10 years at a cost of Rs10.4 billion.

He said that the federal government had released Rs500 million for the K-III project and Rs2 billion would be allocated in the next year’s budget.

He said that in the project, there was a provision to supply 5 mgd water daily to the residents of Lasbella and its industries to overcome water shortage there.

The KWSB chief also drew the attention of the President towards plastic bags which were creating hurdles in the water supply and sewerage.