Gul plaza tragedy: Rescue operation has been completed, says mayor

KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab, on Monday, said that the rescue operation at the Gul Plaza Shopping Mall has been completed and the site has been sealed.

On the directives of the Chief Minister Sindh, an inquiry committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Commissioner Karachi, Syed Hassan Naqvi. The investigation report will be made public soon. FIR of the incident has already been registered, stated the Mayor during a media briefing at the Head Office of Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation.

He announced that the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation would carry out road rehabilitation across the megacity at the cost of Rs 46 billion. He said that he visited the Hub Reservoir Tuesday, along with a group of journalists, where cleaning of the 15 MGD tanks at the reservoir was under way after forty years.

The Mayor said that after the recent rains, Hub Dam had been completely filled. A new canal had been constructed at Hub Dam and old canal was also being strengthened. He stated that Hub Dam had sufficient capacity to supply water to the megacity, with 100 MGD over the next three years. After the complete rehabilitation of the old canal, water supply of up to 200 MGD would be possible.

He said that discussions were initiated with the federal government for increasing the water supply by 100 MGD. However, once the additional water supply started, the lack of reservoir capacity emerged as a new challenge. At present, there are two reservoirs of 7.5 MGD each, through which 15 MGD of water will be supplied to the West and Keamari districts.

The Mayor said that steps had also been taken for the repair and rehabilitation of the LSR pumping station, which would help provide an additional 4 to 4.5 MGD of water to the megacity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026