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Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice Maqbool Baqar on Saturday directed the local government to improve the quality of ongoing rehabilitation work at Manchar Lake, which is being conducted under a World Bank project following last year\u2019s devastating floods.<\/p>\n
He issued these directives while visiting areas near Manchar Lake, including the flood protection bund along the lake and the canal systems in Jamshoro District.<\/p>\n
The World Bank\u2019s Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project<\/a> was approved in December last year after the monsoon superfloods had wreaked havoc across the country, especially Sindh and Balochistan.<\/p>\n It aims to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure and provide short-term livelihood opportunities in selected areas of Sindh affected by the 2022 floods, as well as strengthen the provincial government\u2019s capacity to respond to the impacts of climate change and natural hazards.<\/p>\n The flood protection bund is an embankment that begins from upper Sindh and ends at Manchar Lake in order to protect the area from hill torrents\u2019 water flows during monsoon season.<\/p>\n It had developed breaches<\/a> during last year\u2019s rainfall and floodwaters coming from Balochistan, leading to a cut made<\/a> in the lake\u2019s dyke to release pressure.<\/p>\n Today, CM Baqar also issued directives that the height of the bund be raised after he was told that its height was being revised to six feet higher than the last flood level of 2022. He was informed that by raising its height, it would become a channel to safely bring higher flows of water during monsoon to Manchhar Lake.<\/p>\n He observed that the quality of work should be further improved considering the fact that the province\u2019s economy depends on the agriculture sector, and therefore, a well-performing irrigation system was essential.<\/p>\n The CM inspected the development work at the Aral Wah Canal, whose bed has been widened and a new regulator with 14 gates is being built to have a revised designed discharge capacity of 52,000 cusecs, up from 10,000 cusecs.<\/p>\n Meanwhile. Sukkur Barrage Chief Engineer Sardar Shah briefed the chief minister about the development works under way, stating that the Shahbaz Irrigation Division was badly affected by last year\u2019s floods.<\/p>\n CM Baqar was further told that the de-silting of the Danister and Aral Wah canals was being carried out while construction of a protection bund in Jhangara town was also underway.<\/p>\n The irrigation officer informed the CM that the process of converting three pumping stations on the Indus Link to solar power was under way as well.<\/p>\n The Indus Link is a drain that would connect the Right Bank Outfall Drain-II with Right Bank Outfall Drain-I once RBOD-II is completed.<\/p>\n A pumping station at the tail end of Dadu Canal, which emanates from the Sukkur barrage, was also undergoing development work.<\/p>\n The chief minister was further briefed that Rs399m were being spent on constructing protective dykes in various areas of Jamshoro\u2019s Manjhand town while Rs150m would be spent on the pumping station there.<\/p>\n An amount of Rs204m would be spent on repairing Dadu canal\u2019s regulator while work had also been initiated to restore the Danister and Aral Wah regulators under a 12m project.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, CM Baqar distributed sanads<\/em> (proprietary rights documents) among 51 flood-affected people at a ceremony held at the Sehwan Fort.<\/p>\n Property ownership given to 51 people<\/h2>\n