ABOUT SINDH MSDP
Jacobabad is the capital city of Jacobabad District, Sindh, Pakistan. The city is subdivided into 31 Wards and has a total area of 10.25 square-kilometers with an estimated population of 382,513 (Census 2017). The city is situated in the drought prone geographic zone. The groundwater of Jacobabad city is brackish, highly contaminated and unfit for human consumption. The water supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems in Jacobabad were in very poor condition until the early 2000, like many other under-developed and neglected cities of the country. The main reasons of this poor conditions have been rapid growth in population, non-availability of required resources for efficient operation of utility services, and lack of professional management. The overall water supply, sanitation and solid waste management system in Jacobabad city was in despair due to gaps and shortcomings in the required infrastructure, inequitable services, lack of supporting systems and operational deficiencies. In 2010, Super flood hit many districts of Sindh. As an aftermath of 2010 floods, Infrastructure was substantially destroyed. Water and sewage services collapsed.
Municipal Services Delivery Program (MSDP) with the USG assistance in Jacobabad is striving to improve and upgrade the water supply, sanitation, and solid waste management systems. MSDP is supporting the Municipal Committee Jacobabad to improve the delivery of local water, sanitation, solid waste and hygiene services in Jacobabad, leading to measurable improvement in services, governance and health outcomes.
The Program comprises of the following components: I. Infrastructure component, focusing on treated water delivery as per WHO standards, sanitation and solid waste management.
A. Improvement of Water Supply System:
This component has been completed to operate fully and has been handed over to Municipal Committee, Jacobabad on 14th April, 2021.
B. Improvement of Wastewater Drainage and Disposal System:
This component includes rehabilitation, up-gradation, and enhancement of wastewater infrastructure in Jacobabad City in a safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible manner. It involves rehabilitation of tertiary drainage system, provision of drain cleaning equipment, improvement of the existing pumping station, and rehabilitation of one out of 4 Waste Water Treatment Plant (Oxidation Pond) at Shamb e Shah (Zone ‘C’).
C. Solid Waste Management:
This component includes the provision of solid waste collection machinery, vehicles, and equipment for efficient collection of the solid waste from doorstep/ streets of the city and then its transportation to the landfill site.
II. Soft component, focusing on community engagement/hygiene promotion and capacity building.
- Local Government Strengthening Activity
An activity for the strengthening of the Local Government was designed by Sindh MSDP to provide technical assistance and capacity building to the project areas of Jacobabad, Shahdadkot, K.N Shah, Qambar, Johi and Mehar Municipal Committees for being the ultimate custodians responsible for operation & maintenance of the system. LGSA component involves interventions to improve adherence to standards of service delivery and processes, installation of management information systems, the technical proposal of maintenance of infrastructure, community engagement, and transparency. Also, different trainings for Technical Strengthening of other Municipal Committees of this project were conducted. All the reports developed and published under LGSA Component can be accessed from www.msdp.sindh.gov.pk/downloads.
B. Energy Audit Study of Dhabeji Pumping Complex
Energy Audit Study was USAID funded project which was executed by Sindh MSDP. The objective of the Project was that Water Board is already in losses and the major chunk of the expenditure of the Water Board is made with regards to Energy Bill. Approximately, 80 crores monthly is paid off as Electricity Bill 50% of this bill (i.e., around 40 crores is paid for Dhabeji) that's why to decrease the electricity bill of Dhabeji, this study was conducted to analyze how the efficiency of motors, pumps can be increased and the electricity wastage can be decreased and how the Dhabeji pumping station can be economically run. As a result of this study, changes in the machinery, recommendations for efficient energy use were put forward. However, the matter cannot be resolved only with the change in the system if the people operating the system are not trained. Therefore, skilled people are required to achieve the real essence of this study and that's why staff training was also included as part of this program. This component is successfully completed.