The pollution of the Indus River and its canals in Hyderabad will continue unabated for the years to come because the government appears least bothered in treating municipal, commercial and industrial sewage, released in the waterways.
Besides, the city’s water needs have increased manifold due to the population surge but only small capacity water filtration facilities of around six million gallons per day are being built instead of a central plant with a higher capacity.
The toxic industrial wastewater from Hyderabad SITE area is discharged in Phuleli canal, which is a drinking and irrigation water source for Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan and Badin districts.
The zone’s industrialists are being assured for some years that the provincial government will build for them a combined effluent treatment plant.
The budget, however, has kept the status of CEPT for Hyderabad SITE as unapproved with an outlay of Rs100 million and zero allocations for this year.
Moreover, there are also reflections of schemes, which have witnessed years-long delay in release of the earmarked funds, consequently delaying the projects’ completion and ending up in increasing the costs. There are some other projects which although appear less significant but have secured massive funds.
Two years ago in 2023 the government had approved installation of three traffic signals in Hyderabad with the expenditure of Rs233.486 million. A paltry sum of Rs11.674 million was released in the outgoing financial year while the next year Rs30 million more will be provided, totalling 18% of the total allocation.
This abundantly shows how the authorities waste years to complete some of the vital projects for the city, which ought to be rounded off in a few months in view of the rampant traffic congestion issues.
The phase III of the greater Qasimabad drainage scheme was kicked off in 2017 with a revised budget of Rs3.1 billion. That project is likely to be completed by June 2026 with the release of the remaining total amount of Rs230 million.
Another project approved in 2017 concerns construction of road, retaining wall, drain and prestressed bridge on the right side of old Phuleli canal, stretching from Preetabad to Darya Khan pumping station.
A revised sum of Rs4.923 billion is to be spent on the project whose completion status will be 85% in June 2026, even after eight years. The provincial government had approved the construction of a sanitary landfill site for Hyderabad in February 2017. Out of the total estimated cost of Rs461.9 million, it will get only Rs25 million in 2025-26.
The construction of 9.66-kilometer long Tando Jam bypass road on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas road was also approved in May 2017, with over Rs2 billion outlay. With Rs98.5 million fund allocation for next fiscal, 90% of the total budget for the bypass road will be released by June 2026.
The authorities have also planned to recondition and construct two of some most important roads in Hyderabad. One of them stretches from Shahbaz Flyover on Thandi Sarak to Latifabad Unit 7 railway underpass and the other from the grid station in Qasimabad to former National Highway.
However, shockingly though, a colossal sum of Rs1.038 billion has been proposed in the budget for the two roads whose combined length is around 2 kms. The government will release Rs519.3 million for the project in the upcoming budget year.
The ongoing widening and reconditioning of Autobahn, the longest commercial road in the city, has already taken too long to utter dismay of the traders and the commuters.
The Rs3.2 billion project, which also includes construction of a new drainage system under the road, will receive 94% of the total sanctioned funds. The scheme was approved in October 2022, and it was revised on May 29, 2023.
In the higher education sector, the Government College University will receive Rs119.7 million to complete the construction of boundary wall at the total cost of Rs200 million while for varsity’s upgrade Rs17.8 million will be given.