Islamabad: The federal government has approved Rs8 billion in additional funding for Karachi’s ‘water requirement project’ through the re-appropriation of resources from two sluggish infrastructure improvement projects in Karachi and Hyderabad, as per the request of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.
As per the official correspondence available with The News, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on January 9, 2025 formally requested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for additional financial support through re-appropriation to address the funding gap for the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) project ‘Water requirement for K-IV project, improvement of Kalri Baghar Feeder and Keenjhar Lake 2024-25’.
The Sindh CM demanded the federal government release Rs10 billion in the current financial year by reallocating Rs6 billion from slow-moving projects of ‘Karachi Urban Infrastructure Development Package’, and re-appropriating Rs2 billion from ‘Hyderabad Urban Infrastructure Development Package’ and remaining funds be provided in the financial year 2025-2026 to ensure timely completion of the said project.
Following the demand, the federal government sanctioned the amount by re-appropriating funds of Rs6 billion from Karachi Urban Infrastructure Development Package and Rs2 billion from Hyderabad Urban Infrastructure Development Package for water requirement project of Karachi.
The Sindh CM, in his letter, informed the prime minister that the project involves lining of 38 miles of the ‘Upper Kalri Baghar Feeder’ to save approximately 510 cusecs of water, thereby supplying additional drinking water to Karachi through the K-IV Project.
This scheme has a total cost of Rs39.942 billion on a 50:50 cost-sharing basis (50% by the Sindh government and 50% by the federal government), with only Rs1 billion allocated this year by the federal government.
