Bilawal Inaugurates Karachi Wastewater Treatment Plant, Calls for Political Solution to KP Crisis

NAZRANA TIMES | PAKISTAN  
KARACHI, October 3 Ali Imran Chattha

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday inaugurated Treatment Plant-I under the Greater Karachi Sewerage Plan, a project aimed at treating and reusing wastewater while helping address Karachi’s longstanding water and pollution challenges.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Bilawal said providing water to Karachi and resolving the city’s basic civic problems remained among the PPP’s priorities. According to the PPP Media Cell, the first phase of the project will have a treatment capacity of 35 million gallons per day, while a second phase is planned to add another 65 million gallons per day, taking the total capacity to 100 million gallons daily.
The treated wastewater is intended for reuse, particularly in industrial areas, reducing pressure on freshwater supplies and helping limit the discharge of untreated wastewater into the sea and other water bodies. Independent reporting on the project also puts its initial capacity at 35 million gallons per day, with an eventual capacity of 100 million gallons per day.
Bilawal said a separate 25-million-gallon-per-day treatment facility had been inaugurated in Keamari several months earlier, with another 55 million gallons per day planned there. He also said a project to provide an additional 10 million gallons of water to Lyari was expected to be completed by October 20, while a similar quantity would be supplied to DHA.
He said the objective was to address Karachi’s civic needs across the city rather than focus on a single locality.
Bilawal Raises Water-Share Concerns
During his address, Bilawal said Sindh and Karachi were facing water shortages and alleged that Sindh was not receiving its due share under agreed water-distribution arrangements. He also criticised the federal government over what he described as inadequate supplies of water and gas to Sindh.
Bilawal further claimed that the federal government had committed to covering 50 percent of the treatment-plant project’s cost but had not fulfilled that commitment. He said the Sindh government, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and a public-private partnership mechanism had consequently moved ahead with the project.
He also called for progress on the K-IV water project, saying the federal government had an important role in completing it. He similarly highlighted the proposed Sukkur-Hyderabad Motorway, saying its completion would strengthen Karachi’s connection with the national economy.
Calls for Dialogue Over KP Crisis
Addressing the country’s political and security situation, Bilawal said terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan should be treated as a national issue rather than through a political lens.
He said political parties should exhaust dialogue and other political avenues before constitutional measures such as emergency or Governor’s Rule were considered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He specifically called for engagement with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and proposed a written agreement between the federal and KP governments for joint efforts against terrorism. Recent reporting similarly quoted Bilawal as urging dialogue with PTI before any such constitutional measures.
Bilawal said political disagreements should be dealt with separately from counterterrorism efforts and expressed hope that ongoing negotiations among political parties would produce a political solution.
He also said the PPP regarded terrorism as a major national concern and warned that worsening insecurity in KP and Balochistan could have repercussions beyond those provinces, including in Karachi.
Concluding his address, Bilawal congratulated Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab and the local government team over the treatment-plant project. He said continued development of water and civic infrastructure was necessary to address Karachi’s basic needs.