HYDERABAD: The caretaker Sindh government is considering handing over half-done 273-km long Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD-II) to Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) to complete the project, work on which remains suspended since 2001.

The proposal was discussed in detail at a recent meeting chaired by Sindh Caretaker Chief Minister Maqbool Bagar in Karachi last week where he was said to have asked caretaker irrigation minister Eshwar Lal to come up with concrete reasons composed in the form a note for the RBOD-II handover to FWO.

`Such a note is to be prepared and forwarded to the chief minister for final decision in line with his directive. The irrigation minister had proposed straight away that the drain project be handed over to FWO so that it can now be completed after back to back cost escalations,` said a Karachi-based source in Sindh government on Monday.

`The CM has made a point that there has to be some reasoning for such a decision and prior to it some nationallevel competitive process should be initiated in which FWO should participateas one of the contenders,` said the source while confirming the deliberations.

The meeting, according to a senior officer, did not discuss previous decisions and discussions over inordinate delays in the execution of the RBOD-II project.

`Nothing is final yet but the matter about the FWO is indeed being discussed,` confirmed Niaz Abbasi, irrigation secretary, who also attended the meeting.

According to another source, the minister was concerned about delays in RBOD-II completion and hence he wanted the FWO to be tasked with so that it handled all the thorny issues causing the delays.

`The minister believes that issues over land acquisition for the 273-kms long project are to emerge and the FWO can effectively handle them but the CM intends that the (legal) process should be initiated before any decision is taken on the Rs62bn project,` said the officer.

He agreed with the view that the project would now be ready for another cost revision, which had already been done twice. `Around a decade old schedule of rates is being applied and now things have drastically changed.

Nobody currently knows what will be the final cost of the project,` he said.

Sindh in two minds over RBOD-II The Sindh government`s project steering committee on RBOD-II had decided two years back in October 2021 to hand over the project to Wapda forcompletion in view of the fact that two other components of RBOD-I and III were also built by Wapda. The then Chief Secretary Mumtaz Ali Shah had confirmed such a decision.

Subsequently, the matter remained suspended.

Even outgoing irrigation minister Jam Khan Shoro had observed at a press conference that the government wanted the centre to take over the project which was its `baby`. But later Jam had second thoughts.

The steering committee decision followed discussion that Sindh government would find it hard to complete the project because it lacked expertise in building such drains.

A government official said that the steering committee`s decision was not discussed in last week`s meeting with the CM in Karachi but probably the irrigation minister might refer to it in his proposal for the chief minister regardingthefate ofthe project.

The RBOD-II and its connecting drain Indus Link developed breaches in Jamshoro during last year`s flood in September. RBOD-I also developed rifts for which rehabilitation works were carried out under flood emergency works.

The decision on hiring international consultants for studying present alignment of the drain also remained pending although some international firms including one from Turkiye and Iran had also showed interest in it. `The caretaker government can also decideto have a national bidding for the project,` said an official.

The RBOD-II has been awaiting execution since 2001 after it was launched in Gen Pervez Musharraf`s government at a cost of Rs14bn. Its cost was later revised to Rs29bn and again to around Rs62bn (Rs61.985bn to be exact) after the approval of Executive Committee of National Economic Council.

The super floods of 2010 that wreaked havoc on the right bank of Indus River caused more works in the project.

RBOD-II is to run along the right riverbank to carry effluent to Arabian Sea from upper Sindh and Balochistan.

The effluent`s volume had already been increased in the drain after addition of Balochistan`s component, RBODIII, to the drain. It would now carry 3,500 cusecs against the actual designed volume of 2,271 cusecs.

The project remained incomplete despite expenditure of billions of rupees. Moreover, Rs4.48bn of the project funds were embezzled by various irrigation officers and its reference was being heard in Accountability Court Hyderabad.

The project for the revival of Manchhar Lake too hinges on the completion of RBOD-II, which was scheduled to complete in November 2019 and make a bypass round the lake to connect with RBOD-I and it is to be linked up with the Indus Link. The RBOD-I is currently falling into the lake. It has destroyed the lake`s water quality and fishing economy over the years.