Karachi: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah, in an attempt to address Karachi’s woes regarding water and transport issues, held two meetings with AWDICO (a consortium of French & British firms) and reviewed proposals for the installation of a water desalination plant installation and the launch of electric buses on different BRTS city routes, according to news sources.
The CM deemed the desalination of seawater and its provision to the city to be the fastest solution to resolve the water issue in Karachi. The AWDICO representatives informed him that they had studies the water requirements of the city, and could supply 265MGD of water through an offshore desalination plant. The company proposed to build three barges with production capacity of 100,000 m3/day in the first phase. The second phase will contain a fleet of another three barges with the same capacity. The barges offered in the third phase will hold a production capacity of 135,000 m3/day each.
The AWDICO assured that following the agreement finalisation, each phase will require an 18-month window for completion. The company expressed its willingness to sign a 25-year agreement with the Sindh government for commencing its operations under a build-own and operate basis.
In response, the CM directed the local government minister and Public-Private Partnership Unit to hold more meetings to figure out the water rate and other details in a timely fashion. The firm was informed to install its own solar power plant of at least 50MW.
In another development, the Energy Global Venture (EGV) offered to invest in advanced, high tech electric public transport buses fleet in an effort to make Karachi a pioneer green transport service-provider city.
The company offered to invest in 1,000 public transport buses that will operate on the main BRT routes on a 24-hour basis. Depending on the provincial government’s approval, EGV has expressed interest to adopt more routes. The project will be started in 12-months and 10,000 more buses will be added to the fleet over the course of five years.
The CM announced that the construction of the Abdul Sattar Edhi Line Project was also in the final phase. He informed EGV that the company would be invited to extend the project to this new route and will be given land for the installation of 100MW solar power plant for charging of their buses.
The CM directed the transport department, Sindh Investment Department and Planning & Development department to finalise the details with EGV and present their report in 15 days.
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