Old Canal restores water flow in Sindh

KARACHI: Following the failed Hub Canal Project constructed at a total cost exceeding Rs12 billion, the Water Corporation has resorted to the repair and use of the old Hub Canal in order to solve water shortages in District West and District Central.

The new Hub Canal was inaugurated in August 2025 by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto, and the project was guaranteed by the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab to provide 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of water from the Hub Dam. Nevertheless, after a three-month-long investigation carried out by The Express Tribune newspaper, it is found that the project is yet unfinished, with 80% of the project completed, but still under construction even before its official opening ceremony.

For the last seven months, Karachi used to receive only 35-50 MGD through the newly installed canal because of errors during design and construction of the new pipeline, whereas it previously received larger quantities of water from the old system. Last month, when the old pipeline was put back into operation, 100 MGD became available again, as registered by the KW&SC pumping stations.

According to its creators, WAPDA, the Hub system is an irrigation canal network of 30 kilometers length that supplies 100 MGD to Karachi and 37 MGD to Balochistan according to allocation established since the 1980s. At present, only 22 kilometers of the network are in the hands of KW&SC, while WAPDA still controls 8 kilometers.

Although the channel provided 100 MGD of water supply for a number of years, leakage in recent years reduced the amount of water supplied to the city. Thus, the rehabilitation project carried out recently, costing Rs12.7 billion, aimed to construct a new channel and fix the existing one by 2025; however, it was expedited and put into operation much sooner.

Engineers involved in the project confirm the big difference in work efficiency between the two systems. The first was constructed by WAPDA engineers in the 1980s and was gravity-based and strong enough, while the second channel lacks proper slope design, bad contracting, and is faulty at a number of places. Some engineers claim there may be losses up to 50 or even 70 MGD.

Nevertheless, WAPDA representatives say that there is no leakage from the part of the system in which they control and ensure