Of Saaf Pani and ambitious promises

One of the most basic rights a citizen should have is that of access to pure and clean drinking water. However, while briefing the Senate in a recent session the Minister for Science and Technology highlighted that ironically more than three quarters of the population does not have access to pure drinking water in the land of the pure.

According to a recent study conducted by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) 72 percent of water supply schemes were functional but 84 percent of the water supply unfit for human consumption.

To counter-act this menace, the Khadim-e-Ala of Punjab embarked upon a massively ambitious project “Punjab Saaf Pani Company” (PSPC) for which the government had allocated Rs30 billion in last year’s Annual Development Plan, which was almost two-thirds of the total expenditure on water and sanitation.

However, PSPC fell to mismanagement and poor governance, which led the CM to sack the top management including the CEO at the start of the year. After messing the feasibility reports and failing to secure bids for a second time in line with the original cost estimates, the officials were sent packing home. Understandably, then only a small proportion was spent out of the allocated Rs30 billion.

The same mismanagement and negligence also engulfed the Lahore Knowledge Park (LKP), which led the CM to reshuffle the management and appoint a new CEO in the wake of embezzlement and recruitments against merit.

Perhaps it is time the CM learns that placing retired or active bureaucrats on deputation to head projects of such a massive scale are not the best way to proceed, especially if the aim is efficiency and effectiveness in project execution.

This year’s ADP has Rs24.5 billion allocated for Saaf Pani Initiatives out of which 62 percent is for Southern Punjab, whereas the remaining 38 percent has been allocated for Northern Punjab.

But as has been the case in other sectors such as health and education, the allocated amount seldom counts for anything. Even the methodology by which PSPC plans to enable the provision of clean drinking water to the masses seems to be less thought out and more politically motivated. In order for the project to succeed, coordination and implementation on a district level will be the primary factor.

As with everything else, the CM aims to alleviate the suffering of the masses by election year. But the failure to make progress on issues such as load shedding and the rocky start to the Saaf Pani project indicates otherwise.