Several infrastructure projects approved under public-private mode.

KARACHI -- The Public Private Policy (PPP) Board in its 32nd board meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Thursday approved a number of key projects for the province, particularly the metropolis.

These include Mauripur Expressway, link road to Korangi, water supply schemes, Lyari sewerage system, LDA scheme, five MGD desalination plant and construction of canal from Nabisar to Vajira on public private partnership basis.

The meeting was held at CM House and was attended by provincial ministers and officials concerned, along with the NED University vice chancellor.

Mauripur Expressway

The board discussed construction of Mauripur Expressway (ME). The chief minister said that the ME was expected to provide a speedy access to Karachi's beaches and it would be completed in two years. 'It will bring an end to traffic congestion in the area,' he added.

Link road to Korangi

The meeting was informed that the project was 11.5km long to provide speedy access to Korangi Industrial area. It would be completed in two years right from start of the project. The project includes construction of internal roads and a bridge within the city.

Hub water supply

The meeting was told that the Karachi-Hub water supply system consisted of the broad components such as Hub Dam constructed in 1981 with a live storage capacity of 656,000 acre feet.

It was informed that the eight-kilometre main canal was owned and operated by Wapda coming from the Hub Dam.

Head regulator has been installed at the point which the main canal splits into Karachi Hub Canal (going towards Karachi) and Lasbela Canal (going towards district Lasbela in Balochistan); 63.3 per cent of the incoming water is allocated to Karachi Canal while the remaining 36.7pc is supplied to Lasbela.

Karachi Hub Canal is a 22.4km stretch with a capacity of 100MGD from the head regulator to the city being operated by KWSB. The canal stretch has significant erosion and structural failure causing water losses.

There are two pump houses to pump the water from the canal through the rising mains to the filtration plant. The old pump house is not functional and the new one has surpassed its design life.

The meeting was informed that two-km long pipes were taking the water to the filtration plant. The pipes are 38 years old and have not been replaced since. The filtration plant has a treatment capacity of 80MGD and is mostly not functional. It has a solar power plant with a capacity of...