Nawazish Ali, spokesperson for the National Accountability Bureau, told the OCCRP on Friday that the agency is probing the Karachi bulk water supply project, K-IV, after significant changes were made to the proposed route of the piping.
Another NAB official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the probe follows after the project’s costs rose from Rs 25 billion (US$160 million) to more than Rs 100 billion (US$640 million) in just four years.
Sources reportedly told ARY News that the proposed changes mean that K-IV will no longer affect the land of several influential people in the region.
The Frontier Works Organisation, an engineering subdivision of the Pakistani military, is overseeing construction of the project, according to News Pakistan. Asadullah Khan, managing director of K-IV, did not respond to request for comment.
Pakistan first approved the pipeline in 2011. Afia Salam, an environmental activist based in Pakistan, told the OCCRP that the success of the long-delayed project is crucial in a region where the population far exceeds the supply of fresh water.
“The water supply issues of Karachi are endemic because any attempts at providing ‘enough’, according to World Health Organisation standards, are stumped by population figures that outstrip the available resources,” she said on Saturday.
“Now that the K-IV project is up in the air again due to problems with changes to the planned route, one would like the policy makers and implementers to actually come up with a feasible solution to Karachi’s water woes,” she added.
Haroon Janjua contributed to this report from Pakistan.
