The News Review:
- Rs4bn more for Sindh, Balochistan water projects
- Floodgates may open as water turns into gold
- KARACHI: Water crisis in several localities
Rs4bn more for Sindh, Balochistan water projects
Pakistan Dawn – Nov 12, 2006
com ———- –>Rs4bn more for Sindh, Balochistan water projectsBy Ihtasham ul HaqueISLAMABAD, Nov 11: The federal government has finalised two separate plans for developing new water resources in Sindh and Balochistan to help meet their growing water requirements. The federal government has also decided to provide Rs2. 3 billion for Balochistan and Rs1. 7 to Sindh in 2006-07 to help execute their water plans. According to officials, World Bank has approved its new water management plan for Pakistan aimed at helping the government to extensively meet the drinking, agricultural and industrial requirements of the country…
The main objective of the new public investment programme is the optimum use of limited resources to maximize the agricultural production. Particular emphasis will be placed on the use of limited ground water supplies for fruits and vegetable productions. Likewise, timely delivery of 10. 65 cusecs per 1000 acres water supply to an area of about 290,000 acres in districts Sanghar and Umerkot in Sindh will be ensured for which Makhi-Farash Link Canal Project (Chotiari Phase-II) has been approved. However, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has still to give a certificate to the provincial government for managing additional water during next two and half year period. The area is currently being irrigated by 76-mile-long tail section of the Nara Canal below the Makhi Weir and a network of its off taking channels. Canal off-takes from the Chotiari Reservoir which is 13km wide and 16km long covering an area of 45,000 acres at normal pond level.
Floodgates may open as water turns into gold
The Age – Nov 12, 2006
A possible indicator of the future comes from a smallSydney-based company, Services Sydney, which in a seven-year legalbattle used the Trade Practices Act to gain access to the city’ssewerage network. “We are now in commercial negotiations with Sydney Water to geton with our business, which is based on large-scale waterreclamation,” the company’s director, John van der Merwe, toldThe Sunday Age. “We want to tap into where the big amount of water is andrecycle it for a variety of users, initially industry andagriculture, and slowly educate the community so we can blend itback into the (drinking) water supply” — hastening to add thatthe latter would depend on public support. In the long-term, he said, this might mean Sydney no longer hadto pillage the Shoalhaven River, south of Sydney. Water economist John Marsden of Marsden Jacob Associates, whowrote a report examining private business access to water andsewerage, said there were three ways companies could make money outof the nation’s water supply: supply contracts, includingprivate-public deals; remote area arrangements; and individualconsumers. “The critical issue for policy makers is do you want to allowthe private sector to compete for customers,” Dr Marsden said. “There is no doubt that having them involved in supplyingcomponents is a good idea…
Many of Melbourne’s water retailers retain management andownership over the assets, but contract companies to provide otherfunctions. For example, South East Water contracts “US” UtilityServices, an alliance with Siemens and Thiess, to operate andmaintain its pipes. “In principle, having specialists running water treatment plantsis a good idea,” Dr Marsden said. There are about 20 such private-public arrangements inAustralia, consisting of simple maintenance contracts, “DBOs”, inwhich a private company designs, builds and operates a water plant,and “BOOTs”, where the company builds, owns and operates a plant,eventually returning ownership to the government once the contractexpires. Dr Marsden said that given the Victorian Government’s intentionto ensure ownership of water remained in public hands “thepotential for DBOs is likely to be substantially greater than themarket for BOOT contracts”. Nonetheless, he said if the market wasliberalised nationally, as occurred in Britain, it wouldundoubtedly spark a bidding war between investment banks.
KARACHI: Water crisis in several localities
Pakistan Dawn – Nov 12, 2006
com ———- –>KARACHI: Water crisis in several localitiesBy Our Staff ReporterKARACHI, Nov 11: Water supply to a number of localities remained suspended on Saturday the third consecutive day of an unannounced closure at the Dhabeji pumping station causing hardship to a large number of residents. The affected localities included Orangi Town, Pakistan Bazaar, Baldia Town, Saeedabad, SITE, parts of North Karachi and Surjani Town, Buffer Zone, parts of North Nazimabad and Federal B Area, Gulshan-i-Maymar and Suhrab Goth. Residents of some sectors in Orangi Town complained that water supply to their locality had been suspended for the last one week and they had no option but to get water from illegally-operated hydrants in the locality. People living in North Nazimabads Blocks P, Q and R said that they were experiencing an acute water shortage in their areas since Friday. Water shortage also persisted in parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal where residents were being supplied with water through private tankers…
com ———- –>KARACHI: Water crisis in several localitiesBy Our Staff ReporterKARACHI, Nov 11: Water supply to a number of localities remained suspended on Saturday the third consecutive day of an unannounced closure at the Dhabeji pumping station causing hardship to a large number of residents. The affected localities included Orangi Town, Pakistan Bazaar, Baldia Town, Saeedabad, SITE, parts of North Karachi and Surjani Town, Buffer Zone, parts of North Nazimabad and Federal B Area, Gulshan-i-Maymar and Suhrab Goth. Residents of some sectors in Orangi Town complained that water supply to their locality had been suspended for the last one week and they had no option but to get water from illegally-operated hydrants in the locality. People living in North Nazimabads Blocks P, Q and R said that they were experiencing an acute water shortage in their areas since Friday. Water shortage also persisted in parts of Gulshan-i-Iqbal where residents were being supplied with water through private tankers. The KWSB had closedown water supply from four pumps of the Dhabeji pumping station to the North-East Karachi pumping station in order to connect the K-II system with the K-III, causing a shortfall of 96mgd water. However, the work was not completed within stipulated time, causing water scarcity in many city areas.