Islamabad (April 27, 2018): Government has presented a massive project for the supply of water in Karachi.
Federal finance minister, Miftah Ismail, while presenting the budget said that a plant will be installed to turn the sea water drinkable.
According to him, the plant will supply 50 million gallon drinkable water everyday.
He further said that 180 billion rupees are added in the 2018-19 fiscal budget. Allocation of 1100.3 billion rupees is proposed.
Other than this the governmenthas also announced a Rs25bn special package for development in Karachi.
Rs5bn will be allocated for the construction of roads, fire brigades and bridges in the coming fiscal year. Rs8bn will be set aside for expansion of the Expo Centre, he added.
Ismail, while giving budget speech in the National Assembly on Friday, said so far, three projects covering roads and flyovers and upgradation of firefighting system had been approved, and Rs3 billion had been earmarked during current financial year.
“An allocation of Rs5 billion has been proposed in the PSDP (Public Sector Development Programme) 2018-19. In addition, on my personal request, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal had provided funds for expansion of Karachi Expo Centre,” Ismail said.
Funds for K4 water project
The minister said that the government has started issuing funds for the K4 water project in Karachi.
He said that it was agreed during tenure of the previous government that centre will pay one-third of the cost of K4 water project, adding that however, no money was ever paid and the project never took off the ground.
Ismail said that it was the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government that started giving funds for the K4 and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif also agreed to bear 45 per cent of the total cost.
Desalination plant to resolve water issue
He said the federal government would execute a new scheme of sea water desalination plant for the citizens of Karachi, adding that the plant would be built by private sector and produce 50 million gallons of water per day.
“Karachi is suffering from a severe water crisis …. In sha Allah, it will be my honour to play a vital role in solving the water problem for my city,” the minister said.
“For this purpose, the federal government will bridge the viability gap in partnership with private sector.”
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