Will PM Approve Rs40bn to Finally Complete Karachi's K-IV Water Project?

KARACHI: A letter has been sent by the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asking him to provide the money that would be required to complete the Karachi's K-IV Project. Prime Minister Shehbaz is requested to release Rs40 billion in the form of deferred payments, which was raised by JI-Karachi chief Monem Zafar.

Why JI is urging PM Shehbaz to release Rs40bn now

According to the letter, Zafar referred to a report that was given to a committee of the National Assembly, which showed that the initial plan of completing Karachi's K-IV Project, which will provide 260 million gallons of water to Karachi on a daily basis, has been delayed to December 2029. The latest delay compelled JI to approach PM Shehbaz directly for the sake of releasing Rs40bn.

Zafar urged the government of Sindh to ensure the completion of the K-IV augmentation project in addition to urging the federal government to allocate all of the funds for this project during the current financial year. According to Zafar, without these funds, the first phase of the project will continue to experience delays after 2029.

Magnitude of Water Problem in Karachi

As observed from the letter, the announcement of the delay in providing water for the citizens made many people in Karachi very worried because the city has 35 million people who are already suffering from water shortage. According to Zafar, it was sad that more than half of the population of a city which contributes more than 50% of the income of the country lacks access to water.

From the information provided in the letter, it is clear that the daily requirement of Karachi is not less than 1,200 million gallons of water but it has been receiving only 550 million gallons of water each day. The reason behind asking PM Shehbaz to allocate Rs40bn without any further delay is obvious now.

Two Decades of Delays

According to Zafar, the delays in implementing the projects date back two decades ago. He pointed out that the latest large-scale water supply project implemented in Karachi is K-III that was concluded when Naimatullah Khan used to be the Nazim of the city. However, even though the PC-II report was drafted for K-IV to solve the problem of water in the future in this period, it still remains unfinished after 21 years.

It is important to note that both the federal and provincial governments have been involved in each other’s criticism through the course of this entire episode. The provincial government of Sindh has accused the federal government of delaying the funds, whereas members of the federal government have held the provincial government responsible for poor implementation. Zafar contended that people of Karachi know well enough that both governments have failed.

Budget Gaps Show How It All Comes Together

In the letter, budget details were provided explaining how PM Shehbaz is expected to allocate Rs40bn immediately. For a total amount of Rs40 billion needed for this project, the federal government had allocated only Rs3.2 billion in the last budget. This amount increased to Rs8 billion in the current budget, but that is far from enough.

Zafar explained that this is clearly an indication that both federal and provincial governments do not take the matter seriously at all to find out a solution to the problem of water shortage in Karachi. Furthermore, Zafar pointed out that the Sindh government had been unable to complete the project of K-IV despite having financial support from the World Bank.

Economic burden on Karachi citizens

Other than that, Zafar emphasized the economic burden of such delay for the common people in Karachi. Though Karachi contributes the most to both provincial and federal government earnings, the citizens of Karachi have to pay millions of rupees each year to buy water from private tankers.

If the project K-IV had been done on time, Zafar claimed that the hundreds of billions of rupees that had been used in the tanker business during the last two decades could have been utilized for other purposes, such as education, health, and food. This is the main reasoning behind the demand of PM Shehbaz to release Rs40bn promptly.

Following the submission of the letter, the question is whether the federal government will take the initiative to provide the required funding prior to the end of the present fiscal year. Considering the delay record of the project for more than twenty years, this particular appeal from JI is one of many attempts at pressuring the authorities.