Dec 12th

There has been a gross violation of rules and regulations in the bid to renovate and reconstruct the Clifton sewage pumping station which was destroyed in the November 11 CID centre bomb blast. The News has learnt that the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) has awarded a multi-million rupee contract for the provision of pumps to a relatively unknown company.

Sources informed this correspondent that Rs 30 million were awarded in advance to a local pumps manufacturing firm for four motor pumps to make the facility operational again. According to sources, the pumps that have been procured are not worth more than Rs 5.5 million.

The pumping station was badly damaged in the blast and it had stopped pumping sewage from important areas like Saddar, Clifton, Urdu Bazar, II Chundrigar Road, Bath Island and red-zone areas like the Governor House, Chief Minster House, Sindh Assembly, Sindh Secretariat, Pakistan Secretariat, several five star hotels and the State Guest House. Within a day of the blast, many VIP areas of the centre of Karachi were flooded with sewage.

The pumping station had the capacity to treat 20 to 21 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage. It had six motors which could handle sewage at the speed of 10,000 gallon per minute (GPM).

After processing the sewage, the treated waste was transferred to Treatment Plant (TP)-2 which is situated in Mehmoodabad.

The bomb blast caused massive damage to the pumps, its lines and also destroyed the KESC supply line to the pumping station.

Keeping in view its importance, the Government of Sindh, on the request of the KWSB Managing Director, released Rs 30 million to the water utility to reconstruct the facility on an emergency basis.

While exercising Para 58, the management of KWSB, without seeking tenders from other pump manufacturing companies, awarded the contract for the provision of pumps to Mehraj Limited, located in the Korangi Industrial Area. Under the emergency clause of the Sindh Public Procurement Authority Rules, 2010, the organization was bound to invite quotations from three pump manufacturing companies for the provision of pumps.

However, instead of asking other companies, the KWSB management obliged just a single company and paid an amount of Rs30 million to it in advance.

According to sources, a 100 per cent advance payment to any manufacturer is also in violation of rules and regulations.

The company provided three pumps of six-inch diameter and one pump of 12 inches diameter (suction and disposal lines temporary PVC made) to KWSB. According to sources, the company which is basically known for manufacturing water bowsers, fire fighting equipment, fire tenders, snorkels etc used Cummins China engines for the manufacture of the pumps. The well-known Cummins engines company is actually UK-based and its products are also available in Pakistan. The Chinese company, on the other hand, started manufacturing just a year ago.

The destroyed sewage pumping station was set up more than three decades ago by the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) at a cost of Rs1 billion which was loaned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The station was part of the Greater Karachi Sewerage Scheme No2, which is commonly known as S-2. After developing the pumping station, the KDA handed it over to the defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC). It was handed over to KWSB in 1982, after its emergence as a utility.

This correspondent made numerous attempts to contact the MD KWSB to get his version of the story but he was inaccessible.



This syndicated post originally appeared at on 12 December 2010