The government of Pakistan’s Sindh Province has given the go-ahead for a desalination plant in Karachi city.
Sindh chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah reportedly requested that work on the plant begin “on a war footing”.
The decision was taken as a meeting of the newly formed Sindh cabinet declared an official drought in the districts of Tharparkar and Umerkot. An estimated 367,000 families are facing acute water shortages.
The cabinet must now prepare a budget to cover the desalination plant and other policy goals by 30 September 2018.
Pakistan election debate spotlights desalination (July 2018)
Pakistan breaks ground on desal plant for Balochistan (March 2018)