Slow rehabilitation work had been a major obstacle in preventing leakages, especially in older areas of Karachi. Execution was being carried out through in-house resources with a maximum capacity of ~250 km/yr. To streamline, expedite and enhance the effectiveness of Rehabilitation function of the Distribution network in a focused manner, following measures have been implemented:
- Managing the Ditching & Back fillings contracts, another area causing serious delays in the timely completion of Distribution Pipelines Projects, is now re-strategized through clubbing smaller schemes and awarding fewer contracts to bigger and serious-minded contractors for timely completion of allocated work.
- Chronic issue of obtaining road-cutting permissions from competent authorities I being addressed. Acquisition of permissions has remained the biggest impediment to completing the Distribution pipeline projects in the past. This initiative has resulted in acquisition of a large number of critical and long-pending NOCs from competent authorities.
- Rehabilitation of Distribution network is completely re-strategized which has enhanced the rehabilitation capacity from ~25 Km to ~125 Km each month.
- As result of this enhanced focus, 735 Km rehabilitation works have been completed in FY 2022-23 which is a record achievement. It is also pertinent to report that achievement against the yearly rehabilitation targets remained 96% (company-wide) with Karachi (97%), Interior Sindh (94%) and Balochistan (100%).
- A mid-term plan is chalked out, aiming to rehabilitate of around 4,500 Km distribution network in next 3 years.
- Execution phase started for around 800 KM network rehabilitation schemes in respect of DHA phases I, II, V, VI & VII in Karachi. Rehabilitation works completed for Phase I and II. Rehabilitation of Phase VI has been completed whereas works for Phase V and VII are expected to be completed by Q-3 FY 2023-24.
- For capacity building and performing UFG-targeted Rehabilitation of Distribution pipelines, a contract for more than 500 Km of Distribution (DHA Phase VI & VII) pipelines was awarded to a PEC C-2 category level contractor whereas, remaining rehabilitation of Phase-V will be completed within the stipulated timeframe through in-house resources.
- To ensure quality of such large distribution pipeline projects, 3rd party quality inspection firm has been engaged under the supervision of HSE&QA department to have impartial view on quality of the laid pipelines.
In order to achieve a substantial improvement in high UFG cities of interior Sindh, major rehabilitation schemes of around 300 Km are planned in three cities i.e., Kandhkot: 113 Km, Shahdadkot: 92 Km, Sakrand: 75 Km.
Through the above enlisted measures, the capacity to execute rehabilitation projects has been increased to 1,500 Km per annum which will enable the plan to rehabilitate 4,500 km network every 3 years and cover all the chronic areas especially in Karachi.