President Asif Zardari calls for a comprehensive plan to prevent urban flooding in Karachi

ISLAMABAD (92 News) - President Asif Ali Zardari has called for devising a comprehensive plan on a priority basis to prevent urban flooding in Karachi.

He said that the Sindh government should adopt a sustainable and long-term strategy, based on international best practices, for effectively managing sewage and stormwater to save the Metropolitan City from urban flooding. The President expressed these while chairing a meeting on saving Karachi from urban flooding and environmental degradation and promoting sustainable water resource development, at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday.

The President was given a comprehensive presentation by international water and sewage management experts and proposed various solutions to address the challenges of urban flooding and sewage in Karachi on the pattern of the tunnel sewer systems of Washington DC, the London Super Sewer Project, and the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System of Singapore.

During the briefing, it was proposed that a network of small and large sewer tunnels under existing roads in high-flood zones of Karachi may be developed. It was highlighted that underground tunnelling using modern techniques would not disturb the public, city traffic and land ownership.

The experts informed that Karachi generated almost 450 million gallons per day (MGD) of sewage. They added that sewage and stormwater were collected in small and large open drains which fell into the Lyari and Malir rivers and were released untreated into the sea, polluting the marine ecosystem. It was further informed that the existing network of drains had limited capacity and absorbed around 50% of the rainwater under normal circumstances.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Adjutant General Lt General Muhammad Asim Malik, Minister for Local Government Department of Sindh, Saeed Ghani, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Asif Hyder Shah, Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation CEO Syed Salahuddin, Country Head Herrenknetch Pakistan, Col (r) Danyal Naveed Ahmed, senior government officials, and local and international water management experts attended the meeting.