Work on a much-trumpeted sewerage system project worth over Rs1 billion for katchi abadis of the city has failed to kick off despite the passage of several years, while the sewage of hundreds of such settlements continues to flow into storm-water drains, which not only poses a serious threat to public health and the city's environment, but also plays havoc with the life and property of the people in the rainy season. The continuous flow of sewage from the 539 katchi abadis of the city into storm-water drains is a constant source of environmental and health hazards. Open drainage lines in these settlements often cause an outbreak of various diseases and solid waste blocks the city's storm-water drains. Sources in the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) said that the open sewerage systems of these settlements were not connected with the KWSB's underground trunk sewers. Subsequently, their domestic waste flows into storm-water drains round the year, except for the rainy season. Since all the 64 nullahs of the city flow at their peak in the rainy season, domestic sewage of katchi abadis spreads onto the adjoining roads and streets. For several days filthy water remains stagnant there. They said that both managers of the settlements -- the former Karachi Municipal Corporation and the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority -- had failed to install a comprehensive system of collectors, sub-mains and trunk sewers in katchi abadis. They did not even make any practical effort to direct the open sewerage lines of these settlements towards the three treatment plants of the KWSB, the sources said. CDGK apathy Though the Karachi Package, worth Rs29 billion, which a former city government had approved to carry out various development schemes under the Tameer-i-Karachi Programme (TKP) after the city's stakeholders had agreed to contribute their share toward the improvement of infrastructure, included more than Rs1 billion for the development of a complete sewerage system exclusively for the katchi abadis of the city, no progress has been made on this count. Sources said that a huge chunk of the total Rs29bn was to be spent on water and sewerage schemes of the city's planned area (Rs8 bn for sewerage and Rs4 bn for water schemes), along with the plan for the katchi abadis. The plan was duly cleared by the corps headquarters as well, they added. However, they said that neither the previous city government nor the present one took any initiative to implement the scheme. They said that two separate systems for sewerage and storm-water drainage were laid in the early 1960s. However, none of them was designed to cater to the needs of the katchi abadis. The storm-water drains are meant to take rainwater to 64 major nullahs, which drain into the Malir and Lyari rivers. The comprehensive system for carrying domestic sewage and a huge underground pipeline network of more than 4,500 miles continued to function as a separate system, though no proper sewerage system existed in the city's katchi abadis. Asked if the plan of laying a comprehensive sewerage system in the katchi abadis is included in the proposed S-III project, the sources replied in the negative, saying that since it had already been proposed under the TKP, it was not made part of the S-III project. The S-III project, which had already been okayed by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) is aimed at treating a maximum quantity of the total 400 million gallons of sewage generated daily in the city. At present, all the three sewage treatment plants of the KWSB are treating only 80 of the total 400mgd of sewage, while the remaining untreated 320mgd is being disposed of in the sea, posing a serious threat to marine life and affecting vital port installations.