HYDERABAD, Sept 7: The release of Rs2.5 billion funds for the construction of Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) has been stopped by the federal government which has called into question its timely completion by December next year.

The delay in release of funds since April has badly affected the ongoing work which is now going at a snail’s pace.

Inquiries made by Dawn with some official sources of the project said that an amount of Rs1 billion and Rs1.5 billion was to be released but it had been stopped.

“Yes an amount of Rs2,500 million is to be released for the project but its being delayed since April this year,” said an informed source requesting anonymity.

The multi-billion rupees project to take care of saline water that is now being released in the Manchhar Lake through Main Nara Valley (MNV) Drain is supposed to be completed by December 2009. Its previous date of completion was January 1, 2006.

When the project of drain, spreading over 273 kilometres of area, was designed it was to take 2271 cusec of saline water, but later some changes were made and now the drain would carry 3500 cusec of saline water to the sea, including saline water from Balochistan and from upper areas of Sindh. Its cost has now been revised to Rs29.12 billion. Initial cost was Rs14 billion.

The drain is being built from Deh Karampur in Sehwan taluka of Jamshoro district and it will end in Gharo area of Thatta district to release saline water into the Arabian Sea.

“Currently only half of the machines and other equipments are engaged in work due to non-release of funds,” said an official, who wished not to be named.

According to him 52 per cent physical work has been completed though 42 per cent payment is released.

The contractors are demanding payment but it has not been made. Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was entrusted to build the drain. The payment in two instalments, said the source, was to be released for two quarters that began from April. There are outstanding dues in the head of POL (petroleum, oil and lubricants).

If the funds are not released in time then project’s completion would be in doubt.The rehabilitation of Manchhar Lake is linked with RBOD. The lake stands destroyed as its water has become poisonous following the continuous release of saline water through Main Nara Valley drain into the lake.

CRITICISM: The project has been criticised by environmentalists on the ground that it will be a repeat of LBOD which had wreaked havoc in Badin and Mirpurkhas districts during monsoon season due to its reverse flow of water. However, authorities continued with its construction.

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo has said that he would consult environmental experts and growers over RBOD issue because they have some serious reservations over it.

According to noted environmental expert, Naseer Memon, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the project under Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA) has not been properly conducted. “RBOD’s EIA is quite weak as it doesn’t address some very crucial points,” he said.

He said that EIA didn’t mention likely effects on drain of the hill torrents that turn violent during monsoon rains and added that no details have been mentioned as to causes of failures of LBOD in Badin and Mirpurkhas districts.

“Gharo Creek has its own ecology and nobody knows how the drain would affect it besides affecting aquifers in the area where the drain is passing,” he said.