Karachi's Development News And Updates

[A.Rafay]

I am Starting This thread to put all the development news and Updates Of city Here, I think its not good to start different threads for different projects and progress of the city.All cities must have their own threads.

Canadian firm to launch public transport project in Sindh

A Canadian organisation ‘Bridge Communication & Research’, working on a number of USAID projects, has shown its interest to launch a public transport project in Sindh to ease the problems faced by the commuters in Karachi as well as inter-city travelers.

Syed Naeemuddin and his companion Sohail, originally hailing from Karachi but settled in USA, and working for Bridge Communication & Research Organisation of Canada, showed their willingness at a meeting of governing body of Karachi Public Transport Society (KPTS), recently held with provincial transport secretary Nazar Muhammad Kalhoro in the chair.

They informed the meeting that the project would be funded by USAID and executed by Bridge Communication & Research Organisation. “We are putting up our efforts for procurement of buses to run it through KPTS,” he told.

Shamsuddin Abro, Administrator, KPTS, informed the meeting that Canadian organisation had sought proposals for the project and the KPTS has proposed 3000 buses in the first phase of which 500 for Karachi city and rest for interior of Sindh. The buses proposed for Karachi would have capacity of 70 (40 seats plus 30 standing passengers) while the inter-city buses would have 52 seats capacity to carry seat-by-seat passengers.

Welcoming the Canadian Company’s project, secretary transport assured that Sindh government would extend every possible cooperation including provision of depots and other facilities.

Syed Naeemuddin of Canadian organisation, who is in Pakistan for monitoring the ongoing projects run through USAID grant, said the proposed transport project would be run by NGO (KPTS), however, his organisation would keep watch on its execution.

Bridge Communication & Research Organisation’s delegation, which is currently in Islamabad, would return and meet Sindh Chief Secretary and other concerned officials of government to finalise the matters before signing the Memorandum of Understanding with KPTS.

Minister directs to complete Family Park soon
KARACHI - Sindh Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed on Sunday directed the officials concerned to complete the ongoing construction and development work of Shaheed Ground and Family Park as soon as possible.
The provincial minister said this while inspecting the ongoing work at the park.
Member Sindh Assembly Muzamil Qureshi, Commissioner District East Shafiq-ur-Rehman and other officials were also present on the occasion.
In a short briefing, Shafiq-ur-Rehman informed the minister that the park was being built at one acre where skating yard and other amusement facilities were also being developed for the visitors, particularly for children.
It may be noted that the Shaheed Ground and Family Park is being built at Bahadurabad at a cost of Rs 10 million with the MPA fund of Sindh Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed.

Flyovers in Karachi

 

[A.Rafay]

Model road opens for traffic

KARACHI - A model road constructed from Imambargah Nasiran, Shah Faisal Colony No 5 to Malir River Bridge has been inaugurated for traffic on Sunday. Member National Assembly (MNA) Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan along with MPA Nishat Muhammad Zia Qadri jointly unveiled the plaque to open the model road for traffic, said a statement. The road has been built after development work of trunk sewer and replacement of Water Pumping Station with the special development fund of MPA Nishat Muhammad Zia Qadri. Speaking on the occasion, MPA Qadri said the development work of the trunk sewer would help resolve water sewerage problems of Green Town, Natha Khan Goth, Azeempura and other adjacent settlements.

 

[A.Rafay]

Karachi should bypass the flyover to be truly modern
By Mahim Maher
KARACHI: Flyovers are a secret guilty pleasure for me as a motorist in Karachi. How many times have I sped off to a friend’s house at Safoora’s Gabol Chowk, which some people would argue lies at the edge of Karachi’s universe, taking just a fraction of the time it used to because of a ribbon of seamlessly floating flyovers from the main artery of Shahrae Faisal. I would thank former mayor Mustafa Kamal in my heart of hearts as I made my way across the city.
I say that flyovers were a guilty pleasure because I realised that they were a questionable solution to Karachi’s traffic jams. Yes, there was perhaps a time when flyovers were championed the world over as ultramodern solutions. Their sleek curves were symbols of height- and space-defying engineering for cities. But then it started to filter in that at least for Karachi, these short-term strips of concrete were just postponing doom – flyovers were no solution to what we really needed, mass transit.
The problem is that flyovers are what anthropologist Marc Augé calls “non-places” – the places that all look the same no matter where you are in the world. They don’t have an identity or give people memories, to put it crudely. The irony is that “supermodernity produces non-places”. We are wowed by the modern feel of flyovers and how they make a city feel like it’s being “developed”. Augé analysed those homogenised “non-places” where we spend so much of our time.
They are places like airports, railway stations, superstores, motorways and international hotel chains. These are non-places which are just “spaces of circulation, consumption and communication”. In the case of flyovers (spaces of circulation), they are actually just a transit point, a temporary bridge to take you from one place to another.
“They are transitory, solitary, highly disorienting spaces,” explained Dr Nausheen Anwar, who is an assistant professor of urban studies at the Institute of Business Administration. They are disorienting because you go up the ramp at one point in the city and suddenly, after flying over an entire neighbourhood, descend into another part. It is kind of like airplane travel. You enter a cabin and seven hours later you are in another country.
Anwar pointed out in an email interview with The Express Tribune that Karachi’s flyovers signal the making of a ‘world class’ city. This comes from the modernist aesthetic to move people fast and in such a way that reduces their social contact with surroundings. “Think of ‘bypassing’ Lyari or ‘bypassing’ the low-income colonies that pepper the margins of the KPT Expressway,” she elaborated. Even the language shows what’s really going on.
It became clear in decade of post-2001 Karachi that local government was crazy about building flyovers. Former mayor Mustafa Kamal proudly tells international forums that he built 35 of them. But this was accompanied by the spin-off creation of strange new spaces underneath them. The general perception was that in these sunless corridors the desperate and derelict, the forgotten and failed of Karachi tended to appear. I was already convinced that flyovers should never be built as a traffic solution but I became more and more preoccupied with the spaces underneath as well.
Then I visited Guangzhou in China this June on the Jefferson fellowship to study urban solutions in East Asian cities via the East West Center in Hawai’i. I was delighted to tour their greenways. The Guangzhou city government completely revamped the spaces underneath their flyovers by landscaping them and developing a space where people could come and hang out. In Donghaochong, a canal running under the flyover was cleaned up and turned into a beautiful stream. The results were miraculous.
I returned to Karachi and thought about the spaces underneath its flyovers. Could Mohammad Hussain Syed, our administrator, and Roshan Ali Shaikh, the commissioner, undertake something similar here? I looked at the case of the Banaras flyover with what I thought was all the “dead space” underneath it and felt that it would be a perfect pilot project site. If you look at the photograph or visit it, you’ll see that fruit sellers have set up their carts there and the place is teaming with activity. I was convinced that what I believed was ‘chaos’ in the dead space underneath the flyover should be cleaned up, beautified and landscaped.
But then Dr Anwar questioned the idea that “dead space underneath flyovers should be beautified” because we think that by doing so, we would be able to bring alive something of a part of the city. For her, quite simply, flyovers signal the annihilation of traditional space. “So underneath or in close proximity to the transitory ‘space’, there is a desire to conjure a ‘lived place’, which in an anthropological sense is organically social and not just beautiful.”
I went back to the photograph of the space underneath Banaras flyover. Who said this was not beautiful? I looked at the colourful fruit piled high. I wondered if landscaping it would make it a better space for the people who had come and already done something with it? Should we mess with something that has emerged ‘organically’ on its own? I wasn’t so sure the Guangzhou greenway was an idea that should be replicated wholesale in Karachi.
The flyover is an alienating structure and not “intimate” but there was something about the “dead” space underneath Banaras flyover that had become “intimate” simply because of all the people who had started to use it.

 

[Pak47]

http://www.defence.pk/forums/current-events-social-issues/161552-positive-vibes-pakistan.html

 

[A.Rafay]

District South to be made model zone, says DC South
Karachi-Deputy Commissioner South and Project Director of Lyari Development Package Karachi Mustafa Jamal Qazi said on Monday that in consonance with the Lyari Development Package, the District South would be made a model zone.
Talking to media on his visit to Lyari to review the pace of on-going development projects, Qazi stressed that all development schemes under the Lyari Package should be completed on time.
He said that on the special directives of President Asif Ali zardari for the provision of facilities to the people of Lyari, the pace of development projects of Lyari Package had been speeded up.
Qazi pointed out further that for fostering sports activities, the Football House had been renovated and that the second-phase projects of Molvi Usman Park, Usmanabad Ground, Gabol Park Ground had also been completed. “Steps have also been taken for the promotion of boxing in Lyari as the reconstruction and renovation of dilapidated boxing clubs was completed recently,” he stated. Qazi also called for the steps in order to help enhance the literacy rate.

 

[Nishan_101]

Really the situation of Karachi is worsening day by day.

 

[A.Rafay]

Landhi to Saddar in 30 minutes, thanks to rapid transit

KARACHI:
In Karachi, a new transport system is in the making. In this metropolis, where absence of subways or metros leaves the citizens with no other inexpensive option than to board the old, rusted passenger buses, finally there may be an alternative which allows them to shun the rickety coaches that take forever to reach one part of the city from another.
Construction is about to start on a dedicated bus lane for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). The 22.4-kilometre track from Dawood Chowrangi in Landhi to Numaish Chowrangi in Saddar is expected to reduce the travelling time by half in this ever-expanding city. Another couple of months remain in its paperwork but the actual service will become available before 2014.
The city administration – Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) – thinks the project is imperative, considering the worsening traffic chaos.
“This is the way forward for Karachi,” says Anwer Baig, the director of Karachi Mass Transit Cell (KMTC). “It is the quickest and the most affordable way to travel around a city, which is fast expanding.”
With fuel prices soaring and car parking increasingly becoming a headache, the authorities have shown renewed interest in fixing the public transport system. The BRTS envisages around 200 large articulated buses running on either sides of the road’s green belt at an interval of few minutes.
“The median will be dedicated for buses only and the New Jersey barriers will be placed parallel with the track to stop motorcycles and cars from coming in,” said Baig.
The first BRTS track has been named Yellow Line. Once it is complete, around 13,000 passengers will be using it every hour.
The official said that the success of the project will centre on speed, convenience and privilege. While the average speed of traffic in Karachi is between 14km and 17km per hour, the rapid transit will offer the travellers to travel at 25km to 30km per hour. At present, the public transport buses are the most used medium of commuting but the most disliked also. Passengers are forced to ride atop the buses due to congestion and there are no speed regulations.
The passengers using rapid transit will have some privileges. At many intersections on its route, the buses will get longer “green time” – which means the people in private cars would have to wait at the stops a bit longer.
“We cannot have a dedicated track on the entire length of a route like Sharae Faisal. Rapid transit buses will mix with regular traffic before re-entering the tracks. This is done everywhere in the world but the traffic needs to be regulated at such points,” Baig said.
“Intelligent traffic lights will have to be installed for this purpose,” he said. “The role of traffic police to make [rapid transit] a success remains imperative.”
Too grand for Karachi?
The authorities believe there is every reason to be optimistic. “Many cities around the world are rapidly adopting this solution,” says Baig, who has been associated with the project since its inception.
Previously, many government-sponsored transport projects have come to a standstill. The poor condition of Green Buses and Metro Coaches are an example of the official apathy towards the issue. Even the rapid transit project was conceived a couple of years ago, but no headway were made until recently. But the KMTC director says some things have changed for the better this time.
“We have the Karachi Master Plan 2020 and a separate transportation plan. The Public Private Partnership Act 2010 is already in place, so we have legal cover,” he said. “Things will go smoothly.”
The authorities’ seriousness can be gauged from fact that the KMC is finally inviting expressions of interest (EOI) to carry out a feasibility study of the Yellow Line. An amount of Rs500 million has already been set aside for the rapid transit buses in this year’s budget.
It’s all business
The Yellow Line has been conceived on public-private partnership to make sure government has some role in public transport. According to officials, the cost of the project is estimated at Rs2 billion, which means Rs20 bus tickets would be enough to sustain it. “Any company which runs the system can easily good earn money without pushing up fares,” said another official. “There are 21 stations along the route. They can use them for earning advertisement revenue. There are many other ways to make use of the space.”
Design
The stations will be built at the median of the road and will be four metres wide. Once a bus leaves the station, the median’s width will reduce to 0.75 metres to provide enough space for the buses to run on the roads. Each bus track is 3.5 metres wide.
The stations will be connected to sidewalks with a pedestrian bridge to let people coming from both sides to come onto the platform. The platform will be at an elevation to let passengers easily walk onto the bus without using stairs.
According to initial details, the buses will not be air conditioned, which has been done mainly to keep costs low and the fare within affordable limits. There is one problem, however. “People will have to get used to using the right-side door of the bus,” Baig says. “This means the driver’s side as the platform is in the middle of the road.” A Japanese firm – Japan International Cooperation Agency – has carried out detailed studies for two more rapid transit tracks. Six BRTS have been proposed for Karachi.

 

[A.Rafay]

Rapid transit finds ‘support’ from unlikely source

KARACHI: Apparently the bus rapid transit system will damage the business of private bus operators, but the transporters support the project, believing it will show the government how difficult it is to run transport in current circumstances.
Often the private transporters are blamed for the downfall of Karachi Circular Railway and other government-funded initiatives. But Tawab Khan, the vice president of Karachi Transport Ittehad, thinks no transport system can survive without the complete overhaul of government policies. Talking to The Express Tribune, he went as far as to say he was actually happy about the introduction of Bus Rapid Transit System.
“Do you really think any public transport system can survive considering the recent hike in fuel prices,” he said. “Only someone who is involved with this business knows how we survive.”
The fares of private buses which make up a large chunk of the public transport system are not subsidised by the government – an issue that is often blamed for the poor condition of buses. Transporters say if the government does not subsidise the fares; it should at least fix the transport fares. At current level, the revenue earned does not allow them to add more buses to their fleet.
However, 18,000 private buses and coaches plying on the roads of Karachi bring into question the transporters’ claims. If the business is not so profitable, how are so many buses still running?
Tawab says this is because running a bus has become a family business. “We do make profits,” he said. “We make profits in shape of my educated son driving a bus, my educated nephew working as a ticket collector. This is how we save cost and that is my profit.”Some individuals own dozens of buses, but they have contracted them out to people like Tawab who run them as a family affair.

 

[Karachiite]

Karachi badly needs to an upgrade its transit system. The traffic is getting bad lately. But unfortunately there is a transport mafia group supported by a political party which will never let Karachi have a better transit system. This same mafia group also has clogged the roads on Clifton with their massive tankers. I remember when Mustafa Kamal and Ishrat ul Ibad brought CNG buses to Karachi, half of them were vandalized and destroyed by this mafia group because it put a dent in their business.

 

[A.Rafay]

Karachi badly needs to an upgrade its transit system. The traffic is getting bad lately. But unfortunately there is a transport mafia group supported by a political party which will never let Karachi have a better transit system. This same mafia group also has clogged the roads on Clifton with their massive tankers. I remember when Mustafa Kamal and Ishrat ul Ibad brought CNG buses to Karachi, half of them were vandalized and destroyed by this mafia group because it put a dent in their business.

That is a Major problem, Mafias Are taking over Pakistan, Bhatta Mafia, Land Mafia, Killer Mafia, Oil Mafia, CNG Mafia, Cable Mafia, transport Mafia, Drug Mafias And Smuggling Mafia And what not, Now now The YOung Doctor Mafia.Pakistan NEEDS A Control AGENCY Like DEA of America.

 

[A.Rafay]

KESC installs LED lights at Quaid’s mausoleum
KARACHI: Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), as a contribution to the national heritage, has successfully converted the interior conventional lights of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum to the latest LED based lighting technology. KESC’s CEO, Tabish Gauhar inaugurated the LED lights here at the mausoleum on Thursday. The KESC has replaced 256 old/conventional lights inside the tomb and museum with the latest, green-technology based LED lamps. The lighting effect after this transition to the LED’s has magnified the grandeur of the national heritage by complimenting the beauty of the mausoleum and bringing out its previously understated effect. In the first phase, the conventional lamps of the mazar’s ground floor chandelier, basement chandelier and the museum illumination were converted to the LEDs. The 8.32kW power consumption load of the conventional lighting, has now commendably been reduced to 1.78 kW only, achieving a substantial saving of 79 percent. The financial impact of the savings from the reduction in power consumption will be more than Rs 0.4m per annum in terms lower energy bills. More importantly to note is the fact that LED technology based lights have a far greater useful life, emit no radiation, and are based on the green energy concept with zero carbon foot print, curbing the adverse affects of global warming while preserving our environment. Furthermore in the second phase which is in progress with KESC’s technical support and the partnership Quaid-e-Azam Mazar’s Management Board, the entire exterior lighting scheme of the mausoleum will be transformed into energy efficient LED new technology.

 

[A.Rafay]

Truckers delight: Three modern truck terminals planned

KARACHI: Three new truck terminals are being planned on the outskirts of Karachi to ease the flow of traffic in the city.
The terminals equipped with all modern trucking facilities will be built by the Sindh Transport Department at a cost of Rs22 billion. The project will be funded by local and foreign firms, including the provision of land for the three terminals. They will be named Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Truck Terminals, sources in the transport department told The Express Tribune.
One truck stop each will be constructed along all the three major highways of Karachi: the National Highway, the Super Highway and the Northern Bypass near the RCD Highway. The terminals would be spread over an area ranging between 250 acres and 400 acres. Each terminal will be equipped with modern security systems, including closed-circuit television cameras and vehicle tracking. The facility would also include offices, hotels, mosques, automobile workshops, hostels, auditoriums and cinemas. The truckers will be provided parking space and all other facilities to keep them away from parking their vehicles on the roads and illegal truck stands in Karachi, the sources said.
The parking areas of the terminal will be completed within three months while the whole project will take three years to complete.
“We are taking these initiatives to reduce the traffic pressure in Karachi and to provide a secure and peaceful environment to the truckers,” said Ali Nawaz Panhwar, the transport deputy secretary, while talking to The Express Tribune,
The project is awaiting the finalisation of the deal between the Sindh government and a private company, Integrated Consulting Services, which will fund the project. A committee has been formed, including representatives of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and provincial police, transport, home and law departments, to iron out the agreement.
All stakeholders, including transporters, are being taken into confidence regarding the project, Panhwar said.
The official was very optimistic about the project in terms of reducing the traffic problems of Karachi. Road jams in Karachi will reduce substantially as only those trucks will be allowed to enter Karachi that are to be loaded or unloaded, the rest will stay at the terminals, he said. According to Panhwar, the truck terminals will be Pakistan’s first to be built on international standards. The sponsoring companies will provide water, electricity and other civic facilities at the site and the truckers will be able to avail them on minimal daily charges.

 

[A.Rafay]

Revival of Karachi Circular Railway: Pakistan, Japan set to sign $2.5 billion loan agreement
Pakistan and Japan are likely to sign a 'pledge agreement' for releasing over $2.5 billion sanctioned for the revival of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) by October this year. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved KCR's revised cost estimates, increasing it to $2.56 billion from the earlier estimate of $1.5 billion.

A pledge agreement would be signed with Tokyo for securing loan disbursement, Business Recorder learnt. According to sources, another survey team from Japan is scheduled to visit Karachi next month to finalise the loaning process. Following the team's report and pledge agreement, the process of releasing the loan is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Once fund release start, resettlement of thousands of people displaced because of the project would be started.

Ecnec has also chalked out a way out for resolving the pending issue of 're-lending' of KCR funds by the Japanese government. Japanese government made it clear that any reduction in the fund in terms of taxes or charges on other heads could make the entire project unviable. Thus the resolution of re-lending issue was needed to avoid any cut funds for the mega project.

According to sources at Karachi Urban Transport Corporation (KUTC), the vehicle for implementation of the KCR project, direct transfer of the amount to KUTC through the federal government, could cause a drastic cut in the approved funding. This procedure of releasing funds would face a "risk rate" cut of 6.8 percent and almost 12 percent "interest rate", making the total deduction of 18 percent. However, the fund could be saved if the amount was transferred to the corporation through Pakistan Railways.

Besides, the cost of the project was revised for second time because of procedural delay in the commencement of the project. The cost also increased because of additional resettlement charges. Various studies such as the Environmental Impact Assessment Study (EIAS) and resettlement action plan have already been carried out under the aegis of Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro).

The KCR project, aimed at mitigating traffic problems in Sindh metropolis, was to be funded by the government of Japan through the Japan Bank of International Co-operation (JBIC). Tokyo has commissioned 100 percent funding for the project under a 'Step Loan' at 0.2 percent mark-up with a pay-back of 40 years time, including a 10-year grace period.

 

[A.Rafay]

Water woes: Little to drink, but lots to waste

BELLAGIO / KARACHI:
So much water is lost around the world in leaky pipes that it would be cheaper to just give people five litres of drinking water in cans each day. The Italians would need seven litres, though, because they need to boil pasta.
The wry humour of urban development advisor, Nicholas You, barely masks subterranean frustration. He wants us to stop and think about something as dry as water and sewage.
To put this loss in perspective, Karachi loses more than one-third, or 35%, of its water to leaks, estimates the water board. Singapore, at the other end of the spectrum, loses less than 5% of its water. How did the island city state, which at one point imported all its water from neighbouring Malaysia, manage this feat? Can Karachi take a few lessons from the smart city state?
Singapore’s water (re)cycle
For starters, Singapore rigorously replaced its pipes, bringing down the number of leaks from over 18,000 to 4,500 in ten years. Now, the pipes are fitted with technology that detects leaks by noise.
Singapore, however, has good reason to be smart. The island’s 99-year agreement with Malaysia on water expires in 2061, and it is racing ahead to become self-sufficient. At present, nearly 40% of its total supply comes from rainwater. Every drop is collected in a 7,000-km network of drains, canals, rivers, storm-water collection ponds and reservoirs.
The island’s responsibility does not stop there though. It may make you squirm, but one-third of the Singapore’s water demand is met by the cleverly named NEWater: recycled sewage that is used by factories, and is so clean, after ultraviolet and advanced membrane treatment, that you can drink it.
The philosophy of recycling is so strong that it is almost as if Singapore ‘rents’ water out to its residents, who use it and return it.
“What is truly amazing is that [a water-stressed state like] Singapore will have an excess of [93m“ per capita per year] of water,” says You.
Dumping sewage into the sea
Karachi generates 472 mgd of sewage but just treats 55 mgd, or 11%, of it. The bulk of the sewage is dumped raw into the sea after travelling through a complicated pipe network that is 5,670km long.
“The three sewage treatment plants are outdated. We have to replace them now,” says Zaheer Abbas, chief engineer for the sewage treatment and water filtration plants.
“The treatment plants were built in the 1960s and these facilities normally don’t have a life of more than 15 to 20 years,” he adds.
An ambitious plan, however, hopes to recycle wastewater for factories. The project was conceived a few years ago, but its cost has since doubled to Rs13 billion.
It also doesn’t help for Karachi to be situated right at the end of the River Indus, which means that a large part of used water from other cities is reaching Karachi’s taps.
The contamination is so bad that the water board admits it needs to over-chlorinate because the source, Keenjhar Lake, is heavily contaminated.
Desperate for drops
Nicholas You says that food and energy supplies aren’t finite, but fresh water supplies are.
No where is that more evident than in Karachi, which is piping in water from sources farther away than ever.
“Almost all major cities in the world in the 1950s got their water locally,” You said, citing the example of Barcelona that used groundwater six decades ago; the water travelled zero kilometres to reach taps at home. In the year 2000, the Spanish city transports water from over 100 km away.
Karachi currently gets its water from 150 km away and is largely dependent on external sources: Indus River, Haleji lake and Hub dam among others. The desperate water board just announced it was going to drill 500 feet down at the century old Dumlottee wells to try and get a fresh supply.
Even Karachi’s newly sanctioned K-IV project is going to bring water from hundreds of kilometers away. That is a problem because migrating water from so far away costs money, and consumes energy – resources that the water board has little of. The entity is unable to pay its bills and Karachi’s electricity supplier frequently cuts off power at pumping stations. It is only when the governor, or other high authorities intervene that KESC switches the power back on.
Nicholas You was presenting the information to 31 urbanists who had gathered in Bellagio over July 30 to August 4 for a summit organised by the Urban Land Institute and Citistates Group.
Pay-per-sip
Charging for water to control demand
Water is treated like any other utility in Singapore: there are water meters checking consumption, and the more you use, the more you pay. So, for example, if you use under 40m“, you pay S$1.17 per m“. If you use more than 40m“, the price goes up to S$1.4. Still, the average bill for a small household is fairly affordable, at about S$30 a month. If you steal water you can face up to S$50,000 in fines and three years in jail.
The population, therefore, has become water-conscious and the government has won the battle that is being lost in so many other countries. Household water consumption has gone down from 165 litres per person per day in 2003 to 154 litres a day last year.
Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s problem is that it charges too little for water and sewage and only 1.4 million customers are on its list in a city of 18 million. Consumers are also not charged for how much they use, since there are no water meters attached to their homes, leading to waste. The billing, instead, is pegged to plot size. A 500-square-yard single storey house, for example, pays Rs6,200 a year for its water supply, no matter how much it uses, and Rs768 for sewage services.
Competing jurisdictions
To Many Cooks Spoil The Water
Urban development advisor Nicholas You explains the plague of competing jurisdictions: In an ordinary city, one authority exploits the water, one transports it to a reservoir, one sends it to a bulk supplier, who will purify it and send it to a municipal authority. Add to that three entities dealing with wastewater and you have up to seven separate agencies dealing with water. In Singapore, however, supply, demand and treatment are all managed by one agency – the Public Utilities Board (PUB).
“I’m not saying it’s a model you can repeat all over the world but we have to start thinking about it,” urges You.
In Karachi, the water board handles the supply and sewage, but it has to contend with the Indus River System Authority and unofficial agents that interfere with the supply: they range from the army-run housing authority with its failed desalination plant to the water tanker mafia that steals from hydrants, to households that use supplies brought on donkey carts and boreholes.

 

[A.Rafay]

Plea to expedite Lyari express way
KARACHI - Khadmin-e-Millat Pakistan on Sunday demanded of the government to complete Liari Express way on priority basis.
Saghir Ali Siddiqui, Secretary General of Khadmin-e-Millat Pakistan, said in a statement here Sunday that the construction of the second track is still incomplete which was creating difficulty to the citizens due to traffic rush.
He urged President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari to issue necessary orders regarding early completion of the project. He further suggested that till completion of second track's construction, the present track should be opened from 4 pm to 7 pm for vehicles returning from the city.