PAKISTAN: Seven prequalify for Karachi water and sewerage

06 February 1998
NEWS

Seven bidders have been prequalified to submit proposals for the concession to take over Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB), project sources say.

The companies are Anglian Water, International Water, Thames Water, Hyder Consulting and Biwater with West of Scotland Water, all of the UK, and Generale des Eaux and Lyonnaise des Eaux, both of France.

The companies will have access to a data room in Karachi and will be able to raise questions on the project. The provincial government of Sind, which is handling the project, will then issue bidding documents in April. It is hoped that an operator will be appointed before the end of the year, the sources say.

The selected operator will take on responsibility for all water and sewerage services in the Karachi area under a concession, expected to last for 25 years. The operator will be obliged to meet performance targets covering the number of new connections, the availability and quality of water. The technical adviser, the UK's Sir William Halcrow & Partners, has estimated that the operator will have to invest about $400 million over the first five years of the concession to meet targets. Total investment could be as high as $4,300 million over the duration of the concession.

A draft water act is currently being examined by consultants to the project and the Sind government. The act allows for the establishment of an independent regulatory body to oversee tariffs and performance. The act would have to be passed by the provincial parliament before the selected operator takes over.

KWSB currently provides services to about 800,000 households in addition to a small number of bulk customers including housing authorities and small industries. It is estimated that Karachi has about 12 million households and annual population growth of about

4 per cent. The financial adviser on the project is France's Banque Paribas (MEED 28:11:97).

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