Karachi Port Trust Develops Plan for a Desalination Plant

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The Karachi Port Trust (Karachi, Pakistan), with the United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA), has begun feasibility studies for the construction and operation of a desalination plant in Karachi. The investment cost is estimated at $60 million and the plant will produce 25 million gallons of potable water a day to serve industries at the port that rely on large amounts of clean water for various processing plus one million people in the immediate port area. The complex will sit on a 100-acre lot near the port of Karachi and will be the largest desalination plant to be built in Pakistan.

The feasibility study will take six months to complete and construction will follow with an expected construction schedule to last as long as two years. Contracts have not been officially awarded for the design and construction of the plant, but an engineering and construction firm should be selected by July of this year.

The plant will utilize reverse osmosis membrane technology, which was developed during the 1970's, and will begin to provide a portion of the much-needed clean water for Karachi. Even after the plant begins operations, the city will still be in need of 125 million gallons a day more for the city to reach its needed capacity of 600 million gallons a day.