KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday reviewed the progress on augmentation works of the Phase-I of Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme, better known as K-IV, and set a timeline for starting the 260 million gallons of water daily project in October and its completion and commissioning by November 2023.

Earlier in June, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had awarded three contracts of Rs98.5 billion for construction of the Phase-I of K-IV.

On Thursday, the CM chaired a review meet-ing, which was attended by Local Government Minister Nasir Shah, CM`s Law Adviser Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, LG Secretary Najam Shah, Project Director of K-IV Salahuddin and others.

Mr Shah said that the federal government was also going to expedite the work to construct the K-IV project and the provincial government had to complete its augmentation so that the entire project could be made functional by November 2023.

`The people of this city need water and we are committed to them,` he said.

Earlier, the LG minister briefed the chief minister and said that total cost of the project would come to around Rs53bn.

The augmentation project, being carried out by the provincial government, is planned to connect three filter plants of K-IV with existing Bulk Water Supply (BWS) system of KW&SB.

The minister informed the meeting that thefirst 72-inche-dia pipeline of 28 km would be laid from the reservoir to be constructed near Darsano Chano to Y-Junction Landhi Town via Gulshan-i-Hadeed, Quaid-i-Azam Park, Bakra Mandi up to Landhi town. The pipeline would carry 65 MGD for the locality living within the said 28 km area.

He said that the reservoir-2 would be constructed near Gadap from where a 96and 72-inch-dia pipeline would be laid up to COD (28 km and 96 inches dia) then from COD to Gulbai 14km and 72 inches dia. The pipeline would carry 130 MGD and cover the areas of Gulzar-i-Hijri, University Road, Gulshan-iIqbal, Askari Amusement Park locality, SITE and Gulbai area.

He said that a 28.5-km-long and 72-inch-dia pipeline would be laid from a reservoir to be constructed at around Taiser Town to Banaras via Surjani Town.

The chief minister approved the plan anddirected the authorities to get no-objection certificates for road crossing, railway crossings and existing utility crossing for the pipeline so that all these formalities could be completed before awarding the contract in October.

He directed the LG minister to ensure that the contract be awarded in September and then the order for manufacturing the pipeline be made so that laying of pipeline could be started in November.

The chief minister said that he would hold more meetings to review the progress of the work.

Thar coal The chief minister was informed that the Sindh Engro Coal Mines Company (SECMC), a partner of the provincial government, had unearthed 11 million tonnes of coal to generate electricity.Chairing another meeting at the CM House, Mr Shah appreciated the contribution of Thar coal in energy security and directed SECMC to expand its production because the railway line would be laid from coal mine to the main railway line to transport coal to other parts of the country.

The meeting was informed that 11 million tonnes of coal had been unearthed and fed into (coal-fired) power plant, which generated 10.5 million units (kWh) electricity and transmitted into the national grid since its inception.

The CEO of Engro Energy said that the project was serving the community at its best. He said that out of total employment opportunities it had provided 80 per cent employment to the locals, and added that over 4,000 students were enrolled in its 24 schools.

He claimed that under the project one million trees had been planted to improve the environment of the area.