Karachi water woes deepen as K-4 project faces fresh setback

Karachi, one of the world’s largest cities by population, remains deprived of clean drinking water despite decades of promises and repeated government pledges, Kamran Khan said during an episode of “On My Radar.”

Khan said it was regrettable that Pakistan’s commercial hub still lacked access to a basic public service such as safe water, adding that residents had repeatedly raised the issue with authorities over the years.

He said corruption allegations in major water schemes and repeated administrative failures had surfaced many times, but little meaningful action followed.

Khan said the latest concern for Karachi residents was that the K-4 water project, under development for 22 years, was at risk of stalling for a third time.

He said that the K-4 main line being built through the Water and Power Development Authority, or WAPDA, must be linked to the city’s distribution system through the K-4 Augmentation Project.

That augmentation component, however, has run into what Khan described as the Sindh government’s administrative failures.

He said World Bank experts had declared parts of the project substandard and faulty. They also reportedly demanded that sections of pipeline laid under the scheme be removed.

The latest dispute has again clouded hopes that Karachi households may soon receive clean water through regular taps.

Karachi requires about 1,200 million gallons of water daily, according to figures cited on the program. Khan said the city receives less than half that amount, leaving millions dependent on tankers, private suppliers and irregular municipal distribution.

The K-4 project was launched in 2004 to transport an additional 650 million gallons of water per day from Keenjhar Lake to Karachi.

But over the past two decades, Khan said, the project became trapped in official announcements, shifting deadlines and mismanagement.

Governments changed, he said, but Karachi residents saw no change in their circumstances.

From 2004 to 2020, the project remained under the Sindh government. Construction work formally began in 2016, but faulty design and poor-quality construction allegedly led to losses of about PKR14 billion.

Khan said even Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had acknowledged those losses.

In 2020, the federal government took over the project. It was relaunched under WAPDA in August 2022.

Officials later said Karachi would receive 260 million gallons of water daily in the first phase. Khan said around 70% of work on the K-4 main line had been completed, with a revised deadline of December 2026.

However, he said officials also acknowledged they could deliver water only to three major storage reservoirs outside the city, while no clear timeline exists for when water will actually reach Karachi households.

For residents waiting decades for relief, that uncertainty remains the central problem.