Cleaning of Karachi’s storm water drains to be expedited

The East District Municipal Corporation (DMC) held a meeting on the upcoming monsoon season in Karachi and decided that cleaning of all the storm water drains in the city will be expedited, read a press statement issued by the body.

Presiding over the meeting, East DMC Chairman Moeed Anwar said that the administration of the body needs to make all arrangements for water drainage before the monsoon rains begin.

He ordered that whatever work related to the cleaning of drains is left should be completed as soon as possible. He stressed that the dewatering pumps in Gulshan-e-Iqbal and Jamshed Town must remain on standby.

Anwar said that the East DMC’s municipal department has been cleaning storm water drains in the district for the past several weeks. “After the forecast of rainfall, we are looking at how to get the remaining work done at the earliest.”

The chairman said that they are making all-out efforts to ensure that no accumulation of water occurs anywhere in the district due to the monsoon rains. He said that the dewatering pumps and other machineries are being arranged for the immediate drainage of water in the city.

Anwar was told that nullahs are being cleaned in Akhtar Colony, Kashmir Colony, Manzoor Colony, Mehmoodabad, PECHS, Gulistan-e-Zafar, Essa Nagri, PIB Colony, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karnal Basti, and the Parsi Gate, Waris Shah, Zehri House, Kanzul Imaan Masjid, Gurumandir and University Road areas, as well as the Lines Area parking plaza and the Delhi Sweets area near Sharea Faisal.

Urban flooding

On Saturday, addressing a news conference at the Frere Hall, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar had said that the city, which contributes 95 per cent to the country’s economy, has been given no new schemes in the new budget.

He said that the monsoon season is just around the corner but the cleaning work of drains is yet to be kicked off. The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), he said, does not have sufficient funds to carry out cleanliness work on its own.

If the drains are not cleaned ahead of the monsoon season, the city can witness a major disaster due to rains and the Sindh government will be responsible for that, Akhtar said, adding that Karachi has been deprived of funds for the past 12 years.

He said the rainwater drains have not been cleaned since 2018 as the KMC does not have enough funds for that. He lamented that though he has asked Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to release funds to the municipality several times, but it is to no avail.

“The KMC cannot carry out cleanliness ahead of the rain spell, which is why the provincial government is requested to release funds so that the people of Karachi can be saved from urban flooding.”

Akhtar said the KMC is to get Rs8 million from the World Bank for the cleanliness of rainwater drains but the amount is yet to be received. The disbursement process, he said, can take more time if the Sindh government does not speed up its bureaucratic processes.

The mayor warned that the National Disaster Management Authority has already issued a warning of urban flooding, and if necessary preventive measures are not taken, Karachi may face irreparable losses during the coming monsoon season.

“Besides the drains, rainwater gets stagnant in underpasses and main arteries, so it has to be drained out on an urgent basis, and for that we need heavy machinery, pumping stations and necessary staffers round the clock.”

Speaking on the non-completion of uplift projects in Karachi, Akhtar said the KMC had not been provided all the allocated funds and their projects suffered delays. Sharing the details of the past four years, he said that Rs5 billion was allocated for the KMC in 2016-17 but the corporation actually received Rs4.1 billion. He said that the same allocation and receipt repeated in the fiscal year 2017-18.

The mayor said that in 2018-19 the KMC was given only Rs2.5 billion out of the allocated Rs5 billion, while in 2019-20 it received only Rs625 million from the allocated amount of Rs3.333 billion.

He claimed that 400 projects in Karachi had been badly affected due to the shortage of funds, while work could not be started on another 300 projects in the city. He pointed out that the KMC had to pay outstanding bills of Rs8.5 million to its contractors.