PM Shehbaz urged to release Rs40bn required for completion of Karachi's K-IV water supply project

Why This Matters

Key context: <p>KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has written a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, expressing concern over the city’s worsening water crisis and urging the federal government to ensure the early completion of the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2013662">K-IV water supply project.</a></p> <p>In the letter, JI-Karachi chief Monem Zafar referred to a report presented before a National Assembly committee, which indicated that the first phase of the K-IV project — expected to supply 260 million gallons of water per day to Karachi — is now scheduled for completion in December 2029.</p> <p>He called on the Sindh government to complete the K-IV augmentation component on a priority basis, while urging the federal government to release all remaining funds required for the project within the current fiscal year so that its first phase could be completed without further delay.</p> <p>He mentioned that the report had caused widespread concern among Karachi residents, adding that the city’s population of around 35 million was facing an acute water shortage.</p> <blockquote class="blockquote-level-1"> <p>In letter to Shehbaz, Karachi JI chief slams meagre allocation of only Rs8bn in federal budget</p> </blockquote> <p>He described it as “deeply unfortunate” that more than half of the population of a city contributing over 50 per cent of the country’s revenue continued to lack access to adequate water.</p> <figure class='media w-full sm:w-1/2 media--right media--embed media--uneven' data-original-src='https://www.dawn.com/news/2013662'> <div class='media__item media__item--newskitlink '> <iframe class="nk-iframe" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:250px;position:relative" src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/2013662" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div> </figure> <p>According to the letter, Karachi requires at least 1,200 million gallons of water per day, but currently receives only around 550 million gallons — less than half of its daily requirement.</p> <p>He said that the last major water supply project completed for Karachi was K-III during the tenure of former city nazim Naimatullah Khan. He said that although the PC-II for the K-IV project had also been prepared during the same period to meet the city’s future water needs, the project remained incomplete more than 21 years later.</p> <p>He said the Sindh government blamed the federal government for delays, while parties in the federal government held the provincial administration responsible. However, he argued that Karachi residents could clearly see that both governments had failed to ensure timely completion of the project.</p> <p>He said the Sindh government had failed to complete the K-IV augmentation project despite World Bank assistance, while the federal government had allocated only a fraction of the funds required for the scheme.</p> <p>According to Monem Zafar, against a requirement of Rs40 billion, the federal government allocated only Rs3.2bn for the project in the previous budget, while the current budget earmarked Rs8bn, which he said reflected a lack of seriousness on the part of both the federal and provincial governments.</p> <p>He added that Karachi residents, despite making the largest contribution to provincial and federal revenues, were forced to spend billions of rupees annually on private water tankers due to the chronic shortage. Had the K-IV project been completed on time, citizens could have spent the hundreds of billions of rupees paid to the tanker business over the past two decades on education, healthcare and food instead, he added.</p> <p><em>Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2026</em></p> This development from dawn.com highlights ongoing changes in the sector.