K-IV project remains stuck in pipeline

The K-IV water supply scheme that began in 2016 in Karachi but is still pending even after ten years is faced with numerous administrative challenges and budgetary constraints that pose a threat to make the project futile in view of population growth.

As per the official details about the project, the total length of the main corridor covers as long as 120 km, running from Keenjhar Lake to Kathore, and requires an estimated investment of Rs126 billion.

The project's construction came to a halt in 2019 amid provincial administration but later was taken up by the federal government in 2021 and was given to WAPDA for its total redesigning. Finally, in 2022, the project started moving forward and its completion is expected to be achieved by December 2025.

According to a senior WAPDA official who wishes to remain anonymous, the project is facing many hindrances in the form of budgetary constraints because of the limited budget of the project. It is claimed that till now the government has released Rs85 billion against the mounting demands of Rs126 billion for the timely completion of the project.

Last year when the demand was Rs40 billion, only Rs11 billion could be released. Even in the present fiscal year, despite demanding Rs40 billion, only Rs10 billion were released by the government.

Despite all these hurdles and the difficult financial challenges, WAPDA is striving hard to speed up the construction process on their own and have given clear assurances to the contractors about making payments on time. Out of total eight contracts made for this project, five contracts are supposed to be completed during this year, whereas, other three will be completed next year by June.

Alongside this major project, there are some more mega projects related to K-IV which are under the management of the Sindh government and all of them are facing operational difficulties at present. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Services Implementation Project (KWSSIP) which is constructed using a loan from World Bank costing Rs71 billion, intends to construct a completely new network of bulk distribution of 95-kilometer pipelines from Kathore to inner city.

Though this particular project was meant to be finished in just two years, its official period of completion has already been extended to 2029. Phase I of this project is meant for the construction of pipelines covering 2.7 kilometers route from Hassan Square to Nipa Chowrangi which has been under construction since November last year but it has faced many halts in between owing to the fact that construction was temporarily halted twice because of the World Bank experts due to environmental and safety concerns for one month and for two months for technical reasons in welding and protective pipeline coating.

Local officials now estimate that Phase I is roughly 60 per cent complete and should realistically be finalised by November or December this year. Conversely, Phase II, which is designed to lay an extensive 92.3 kilometres of pipelines across various other urban zones, has not even managed to initiate its formal tender process due to a chronic shortage of experienced officers and engineers. Hence, a potential delay of four to five years looms over the broader timeline.