Karachi’s K-IV project, a massive canal to bring crucial water supplies all the way from Kinjhar Lake, will now need design fixes and fresh costing, a committee has told the Sindh government. But the committee has recommended the route should not be changed, even though independent consultants have pointed out major flaws.
K-IV was started eighteen years ago. An estimated Rs11.9 billion has already been spent on it but it is nowhere near completion. Construction was stopped because of design problems and the Sindh government started to examine why it was taking so long. K-IV was commissioned by the KW&SB, designed by Osmani & Co Ltd and was to be built by the FWO.
Read more: Samaa Digital’s four-month investigation into K-IV
The Sindh government asked independent engineering firm Nespak to check Osmani’s design last year and it did not come back with good news. The 121km route Osmani chose went through very hilly areas when a canal should be built on reasonably flat land. The soil and rocks or geology were unfavourable for a canal’s construction. There were seismicity or earthquake fault line worries. Many natural streams crossed the canal’s path at the foothills of the Kirthar range and would need concrete cross-drainage structures (an additional cost and risk). Nespak found that the canal and pumping stations would be too expensive to operate and maintain. It concluded the route selected by Osmani was not suitable.
Nespak gave KW&SB its assessment by October 2019 and the water board showed it to Osmani, which did not react well and “strongly contested and raised several questions.”
Read more: What does the K-IV route look like
The two came face-to-face in technical committee meetings to come up with solutions of how to get the project done. Fights broke out. “There was a clear dispute among the two consultants who were firm on their stances and findings and there was a clear deadlock on the way forward to execute [it],” the committee report to the Sindh government said, in a draft version which is available with Samaa Digital.
It appears that in the end, Nespak’s critical assessment and recommendations have been rejected and Osmani’s team has managed to sway the technical committee with its explanations.
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The technical committee concluded that Nespak’s points did not merit a change in route or a study for an alternate route.
In response to each point, it said that: it felt that hilly area can be tackled with better design and was not reason enough to change the route in such a mega project. The geology of the area is the same elsewhere so that isn’t reason enough either. The seismicity concerns are already addressed because the project falls in Zone 2A, which is low. It will always be difficult to maintain and operate such a canal and pump water. It said that no changes need to be made in the route.
What it will do is tell OCL to go over the concerns, redesign some parts, conduct more surveys on cross-drainage and undertake all remedial measures, re-examine the original design in totality and make it foolproof. It has to provide a modified design report as soon as possible and for free.
The modified design will be sent to the FWO which will have it checked by an independent third-party. This will mean that Osmani’s design went through one third-party check and now, a second one when it modifies the design.
Local Government Secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh heads the technical committee. He confirmed to SAMAA Digital that they ruled out Nespak’s view that the current route is not feasible to bring water to Karachi. “The existing route certainly needs some changes, which have already been noticed by the technical committee and it asked OCL to modify the existing route,” he added. The report says “substantial work” has been done for 86km.
So now the committee has agreed to tell the Sindh government to give Osmani two months to present a modified design at no additional cost. It recommended that OCL would prepare a new PC-I of the project from the 73km point to the end at 121km. This will be an additional cost. Shaikh said this was a matter of the finance department, as the project was equally funded by the federal and provincial governments.
“The FWO will arrange an international company to conduct third-party vetting of the modified design to be submitted by OCL,” he confirmed. (Technically speaking, the contractor isn’t supposed to get the design checked.)
The Sindh government shall buy the rest of the land left over for the route. Augmentation will be implemented according to the JICA Master Plan study. The Sindh government has to take up the matter of acquiring 1,200 cusecs extra from the Indus River.
One of the Nespak representatives who was part of the meetings told SAMAA Digital that the Sindh officials and OCL representatives did not even go through the Nespak design review. They have rejected many viewpoints and valid reservations raised by Nespak on the present route. “We have submitted the design review report to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Inquiry Commission and Finance Department,” he added. “Such mega projects like KIV need sound and comprehensive technical grounds, which are not being followed by the consultant in their study.” He claimed that the existing route has technical flaws and the consultant will not be able to execute it on the same route.
The Sindh chief minister had been overseeing K-IV and will be deciding how work will continue. The technical committee has suggested the World Bank or Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a relatively new entrant on the scene in Sindh, could be asked to fund it. The federal government has already given its side of the money.
The technical committee is made up of:
Local Government Secretary Roshan Ali Shaikh
Local Government Special Secretary (technical) Syed Muhammad Taha
KW&SB MD Asadullah Khan
Commander Corps Engineers, 5 Corps Brig Qazi Nasir Mehmood
K-IV project director Assad Zamin
KWSSIP project director, KW&SB, Muhammed Ayoob Shaikh
Sindh government Irrigation Department Chief Engineer Shafqat Hussain
NED University’s Dr Shafqat Ejaz
Mehran University’s Dr Kamran Asari
With writing by Mahim Maher
Note: K-IV refers to the Greater Karachi Bulk Water Supply Scheme K-IV Phase I
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