KARACHI - Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah has approved remodeling of Mahmoodabad Nullah in the first phase and then the rest of nullahs of the city would be developed accordingly.

“We have to resolve this issue for good so that urban floods could be brought to an end in the city.” This he said while presiding over a meeting to review the study of Mahmoodabad Nullah conducted by NED University on Thursday at the CM House. 

The meeting was attended by provincial ministers, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah, advisor law Murtaza Wahab, chairman P&D M Wasim, administrator Karachi Iftikhar Shallwani, VC NED University Dr Sarosh Lodhi, secretary local government Najam Shah and others.  

The VC NED while briefing the chief minister (CM) said that the hydrological regime of the region, Mahmoodabad Nullah’s catchment area, spread over 19.03 square kilometers. Most of the artificially constructed waste water drains were discharging into the Mahmoodabad Nullah, including a section of DHA drainage network of 2.96 km.

The CM Sindh was told that the Mahmoodabad Nullah which started from Korangi Road to Fire Station was originally 3.57 km in length. Its width varies at different places from 2.3 meters to 37.5 meters. The existing level of Mahmoodabad drain was too deep at some spots and hardly a few feet deep at other spots. 

The CM said that the government would construct an 80-meter channel of the Mahmoodabad Nullah so that variation of the depth and width could be made properly so that flow of water could be ensured in natural gravity. 

Syed Murad Ali Shah directed the NED University team to conduct a parallel study whether a separate drainage channel might be constructed along the Mahmoodabad Nullah for disposal of waste water or only construction of a conduit would be enough to drain out sewerage water in the same nullah. 

It was pointed out that usually 55 cusecs of waste water was flowing into the Mahmoodabad Nullah; therefore, it could be used as storm water drainage by further widening it. However, a pumping station may be installed to pump out rain water, whenever it rained in the city heavily.  

The CM Sindh directed minister local government Syed Nasir Shah to prepare a plan to install a pumping station and a treatment plant at the end of the nullah where it was terminating into the sea. “I want to dispose of treated [waste] water into the sea but the KMC and DMCs can use it for gravening purposes,” he said.

The CM also said that a road on both the side of the nullah would be constructed for smooth flow of traffic and stop encroachments in future.