• Asks Malir Expressway project director to complete its first 15km segment by Sept 15
• Reviews Hub Canal rehabilitation project

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has once again directed all civic and local bodies as well as the city administration to submit within a week a detailed plan to the provincial government for the removal of encroachments on public places across the metropolis.

Presiding over a meeting at CM House on Thursday, the chief minister expressed displeasure over the encroachments on public spaces under the nose of authorities concerned and said that he had given two weeks to the administration and local bodies to work out a plan for the removal of encroachments a week ago and now they had only week left to submit their plan.

According to a press statement, the meeting was attended among others by provincial ministers Saeed Ghani, Zia Lanjar, Mayor Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi, SMBR Baqaullah Unar, MD Sindh Solid Waste Management Board Imtiaz Shah, Finance Secretary Fayaz Jatoi, Transport Secretary Asad Zamin, Municipal Commissioner Afzal Zaidi, Sindh Building Control Authority Director General Rasheed Solangi, Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation CEO Syed Salahuddin Ahmed and Project Director (PD) Malir Expressway Niaz Soomro.

The CM said footpaths were meant for the people to move hassle-free, but they had been encroached upon under the nose of the administration. “Now, the green belts of the roads have also been encroached upon by the dhabas (small makeshift restaurants) and other similar settlements.

The commissioner informed the chief minister that the assistant commissioners had started documenting encroachments on the footpaths, green belts and even debris put on the roads for under-construction buildings.

The CM said that it was the job of local bodies, local administration and the police not to allow encroachment on the public spaces. “But sorry to say I compelled to take up such issues,” he said.

The mayor told the CM that he was working on the plan for the removal of encroachment from the KMC roads in a planned manner. “Due to Muharram activities, the tasks could not be taken up,” he said and added that now it would be completed by removing all kinds of encroachments.

The chief minister said that the parking areas of shopping/commercial plazas had been turned into warehouses in the city to mint money and the vehicles and bikes were being parked on the roads. “Why is the SBCA silent?” he questioned.

The SBCA chief told the CM that the officers of the authority had started the survey of the commercial plaza where approved parking areas had been converted into godowns and added that just after the survey, the plazas would be given notice to restore their parking areas and in case of failure, the buildings would be sealed.

Malir Expressway

The chief minister said that the first segment of the 15-km Malir Expressway from Jam Sadiq Bridge to Shah Faisal would prove to be an alternative road to the airport which was most important for the people of the city.

PD Malir expressway told the CM that due to some litigation issues the work had been delayed. He requested the CM to give him a month so that he could complete the remaining work of the first segment.

The CM directed him to complete all the remaining work by the middle of September so that he could open it for the public in the last week of September.

The CM also directed the commissioner to conduct a detailed survey of the land reclaimed from the Malir Expressway from end-to-end so that it could be documented.

Hub Canal

The chief minister reviewed the Hub Canal rehabilitation project and set a timeline for the KWSC to meet it.

He directed the mayor, who is also KWSC Board chairman, to mobilise the contractor by July 28 and start work in the first week of August. “I’ll personally visit the site to witness the start of the work,” he said.

Mr Shah said that he wanted the work on the new canal completed by Feb 2025 and rehabilitation of the existing canal and its allied works by the end of April 2025.

Similarly, he said rehabilitation of the pumping station, civil, electrical and mechanical works should be done by May 2025, and intersection structures should be completed by the same month.

TP-4

The CM was told that the water board had mandated the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to be the Transaction Advisor for 120 MIGD Treatment Plant (TP-IV) along with a recycling plant and pipeline system to be procured under the public-private partnership mode.

The project consists of designing, constructing, and transferring back to KWSC an upstream interceptor sewer of approximate length of 22 km; and Designing, Financing, Constructing, Operating, and Transferring (DFCOT) back to KWSC a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of up to 120 MIGD, a recycling plant, and a pipeline distribution system to transmit 40 MIGD recycled water to industrial consumers in the Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) for a concession period of 25 years.

The water demand of industries in KIA and Korangi Creek is about 40 MIGD. The Project will help KWSC alleviate the shortage of potable water and bring environmental and public health benefits to Karachi.

The CM directed the DG PPP Unit Asad Zamin to work out a tentative timeline for the TP-IV project so that the RFP (request for proposal) could be launched in January 2025.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2024