Out of the three desalination plants that are to be set up in Karachi one would become operational by the end of December 2005 and the other two would be taken up immediately after the successful operation of the first plant.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad was reviewing progress on desalination plants in a meeting at his office on Saturday.
Federal Minister for Shipping Babar Khan Ghauri, Sindh Minister for Planning and Development Shoaib Bukhari, KPT Chairman Vice Admiral Ahmed Hayat, Principal Secretary Salim Khan, Secretary Industries Nasir Hayat, Managing Director KWSB Brigadier Nasir Hayat, Site Association Chairman Ikhtiar Baig and representatives of the desalination plant suppliers and installers attended the meeting.
These desalination plants would work on reverse osmosis process. When the plants are operational they would generate 100 MW electricity and 25 million gallons water per day. This water would be supplied to Site industrial area, and the present supply of water from Karachi Water and Sewerage Board source would be diverted to other water-deficient areas of the city.
The governor said that the desalination plants, being installed on the instructions of President Pervaiz Musharraf, would be made operational on priority basis. The first plant would be able to meet 25 percent needs of the SITE area by December this year.
He said that all installation work should be transparent and it should be ensured that no compromise on quality is made.
The governor asked the American firm installing desalination plants to negotiate its terms and conditions with Karachi Electric Supply Corporation for power tariff, and water rates with Site, so that the operation should take off smoothly.
He fixed August 20 as cut-off date for finalisation of these matters.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005

Comments

Comments are closed.