While at the HBSZ facility in Wuhan, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah invited a Chinese company to build the Karachi water supply project, a pipeline running more than 100 kilometres. He told the company the province wants laying to start as soon as possible and the work finished at the earliest. The firm responded that it was prepared to do the work.
No route, cost or daily volume for the Karachi water supply project was set out in the account of that meeting. It is also not stated whether the scheme sits inside any existing bulk-supply programme.
The Wuhan visit
Jam Khan Shoro, Sindh’s irrigation minister, travelled with the chief minister. The Wuhan trip was not limited to the city pipeline. Shah also looked over how new gates for the Sukkur Barrage are being made, and he checked preparations for 100 canal gates.
Shah called Sukkur Barrage Sindh’s economic lifeline, pointing to how much of the province’s irrigation depends on it. He said the gain in water flow came roughly 90 years after the barrage was formally restored, and he ranked it among the world’s large barrages when measured by the farmland it commands. In a briefing, officials put the weight of each Sukkur Barrage gate at more than 50 tonnes and said the finished gates would be shipped to Pakistan.
Sukkur Barrage, year four
The improvement scheme has now run into a fourth straight year. On the river side of the barrage, 44 gates out of 54 are already in place and working, and the civil repairs on that set are done. Fabrication of the last 10 is finished, and those gates are expected to be sent to Sukkur shortly.
The restoration was launched on 24 February 2023 and is due to finish on 30 June 2027. China Road and Bridge Corporation and HBSZ hold the rehabilitation and modernisation contract together. The work draws financial help from the World Bank, the federal government and the Sindh government.
The same programme also covers Guddu Barrage. Together with Sukkur, the two barrages are described as essential to irrigation and agriculture in Sindh.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 24 February 2023: Restoration work on the Sukkur Barrage was launched. The contract is held jointly by China Road and Bridge Corporation and HBSZ.
- 13 October 2026: Accounts of the visit to the HBSZ facility in Wuhan said Murad Ali Shah had invited a Chinese company to build a water pipeline of more than 100 kilometres in Karachi. He was briefed that 44 of 54 river gates were replaced and activated, that the other 10 were fabricated for shipment to Sukkur, and that each gate weighs more than 50 tonnes.
- 30 June 2027: The restoration project is due to be completed.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sindh ke wazir-e-ala Murad Ali Shah ne Wuhan mein ek Chinese company ko Karachi ke liye 100 kilometre se lamba pani ka pipeline banane ki dawat di hai. Company ne haan ki hai, aur hukumat chahti hai ke pipeline jald se jald bichhai jaye. Abhi yeh nahi bataya gaya ke paani kis ilaqe tak aur kitni miqdar mein aayega. Sukkur Barrage ke 54 gate mein se 44 lag chuke hain, aur baqi 10 jald bheje jane hain.
