Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab refutes reports of damage to new Hub canal

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab has dismissed reports of damage to a newly constructed canal at Hub Dam during its testing phase, stating that old videos were being circulated to generate propaganda. 

Karachi’s administrative head’s statement came after reports cirualted online, stating that a newly formed canal at Karachi’s Hub Dam cracked due to water pressure during initial testing.

According to the reports, a portion of the canal was allegedly damaged ahead of the official launch.

Speaking to the media outside the Supreme Court Karachi registry, Wahab said that the residents in Karachi have been provided with additional water for more than two decades, and the canal at Hub is also a part of those efforts. 

“It has been built at a cost of at least 12.8 billion within a record-setting period of 10 months. If this claim were true, the canal wouldn’t have been inaugurated on August 14.”

Read: New Hub Canal to ease water woes in Keamari, West districts from Aug 14

Wahab said that the project was completed, and when a big project is completed, it is examined before inauguration so that technical faults can be identified and fixed. 

Acknowledging the reports of damage, he said that “examination aims to identify and resolve the issues, and these are common on concrete work,” and the canal will be observed for a year after completion. 

“The contractor will be responsible for repairing the canal if it has any damage within a year.”  

Wahab further stated that strict quality assurance protocols were followed during the construction phase and alleged that the false reports were part of a deliberate misinformation campaign aimed at undermining the project.

Mayor Karachi mantained that those circulating this propaganda are trying to sabotage a crucial project that aims to bring an additional 100 billion gallons of water daily from Hub Dam to Karachi,