Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab inaugurated the upgraded Saulah Muhammad Water Pumping Station in Gadap Town on Wednesday, after improvement work at the facility for the first time in several decades.
Speaking at the inauguration, Wahab said the station’s chlorination centre had also been made operational. The project is expected to improve water supply to residential areas and housing societies along Memon Goth Road, including Jafar Tayyar, Khokhrapar and Firdous Colony.
Karachi pumping station work
The station had gone without major improvement work for decades, according to the mayor’s remarks at the event. The upgrade restores a piece of water infrastructure that serves a growing strip of Gadap Town, where housing societies have expanded faster than services.
Chlorination matters as much as pumping. A working chlorination centre treats the water before it reaches homes, cutting the risk of waterborne disease. For areas that have relied on tankers or untreated supply, that step is a real gain, not just a technical detail.
The mayor also linked the project to a wider set of water works in the city. He announced that a new pipeline capable of supplying 10 million gallons of water per day (MGD) had been laid to improve water availability in Lyari. Another pipeline has been installed along the Lyari Expressway, while measures are being taken to prevent water theft.
He added that further work was under way to improve Memon Goth Road itself, so the pumping upgrade sits inside a broader effort to fix both water and road access in the area.
Gulshan-e-Hadeed and the Steel Mills link
Wahab also spoke about Gulshan-e-Hadeed, where residents have faced water supply problems since Pakistan Steel Mills stopped supplying water to the area. He said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) representatives had taken steps to address the issue.
The Steel Mills link explains why a local pumping station carries wider weight. When a large institution stops supplying water, whole neighbourhoods lose a source they had counted on for years. Replacing that supply takes new pipelines, new pumping capacity and time, and residents feel the gap every day until the work is done.
Water theft came up too. Illegal connections drain pressure from the network, so homes at the end of the line get little or nothing. Measures against theft protect the supply that upgraded stations and new pipelines are meant to deliver.
Why Karachi’s water fixes are hard
Karachi’s water problem is not one broken station. It is a system under strain from a growing population, old pipes, limited bulk supply and losses along the way. Pakistan is eyeing $18 billion in water investment by 2029, and that figure shows the scale of the gap.
Local fixes still matter. A pumping station that works, a chlorination centre that runs, and a pipeline that reaches Lyari will change daily life for the households they serve, even while the city-wide problem remains.
Other Karachi pressures run alongside the water story. The city has also faced scrutiny over narrowing of Nehr-e-Khayyam and a report warning that 80 per cent of Pakistan’s groundwater is unsafe. Against that background, treated and reliable supply is a public health issue as well as a service issue.
Wahab said the reopened Spencer Eye Hospital was receiving about 300 patients daily. That points to the same theme: repaired public facilities can still serve large numbers.
What happens next
The test for the Gadap upgrade will come in the weeks ahead. Residents along Memon Goth Road will know quickly whether pressure improves, whether supply hours lengthen, and whether the chlorinated water reaches their taps consistently.
The Lyari pipeline will face the same test. A 10 MGD line sounds large, but its value depends on how much water actually flows through it and how much survives theft and leakage on the way.
For now, the inauguration marks a completed piece of work after decades of neglect at one station. Karachi needs many more such pieces, but each one that works eases the daily burden on the households it serves, just as Karachi University Road work running to December 31 shows how long city fixes can take.
Frequently asked questions
Which pumping station was inaugurated in Karachi?
The Saulah Muhammad Water Pumping Station in Gadap Town, inaugurated by Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab after improvement work spanning several decades.
