According to a Business Recorder report in the issue of March 28, the World Bank has asked the Pakistan Government to approve the National Water Policy within a month and to establish a Water Policy Cell in the Water and Power Ministry, with a view to extending technical support to the proposed National Water Council too. This should serve as an indication of the Bank's dismay over the slovenly manner in which the country's multi-directional efforts to address the serious water problems are being pursued.
Quoting an official source, our report has pointed out that the Water and Power Ministry had shared the draft policy with the World Bank, and agreed, in one of its recently submitted comments to the Finance Ministry, to show it the final draft, ahead of submission to the cabinet. More to it, the World Bank is reported to have also made it mandatory for the Water and Power Ministry to notify the NWC and the WPC of the core funding for next fiscal year soon after the cabinet approves the NWP.
The Bank is also reported to have emphasised that progress needs to be made in two important aspects of the irrigation water management, namely, strengthening of Indus Water River System Authority (Irsa) and development of a Drainage Master Plan (DMP) for the country.
It will also be noted that the Bank has focused on the problems Irsa has been facing in implementation of the Water Accord of 1991 among the provinces. This has reference to its observation that improvement in the regulator's capacity happens to be critical to its better performance. On its part, Irsa is stated to have submitted to the ministry its improvement plans and proposals (PC-II) for enhancement and strengthening of its technical staff.
These proposals also cover training of personnel and acquisition of equipment to better monitor and forecast the Indus flows, besides carrying out technical studies to facilitate its operations and also construction of Irsa headquarters. It will be worthwhile to point out that, seemingly satisfied with the performance of Irsa, the World Bank has taken due note of the actions taken to make the telemetry system fully operational and inter-provincial water distribution more transparent.
Mention, in this regard, has also been made of a Drainage Master Plan the government had prepared, and which was reviewed by a panel of experts last September, recommending improvements in its various parts.
The experts had also proposed preparation of drainage development and water management plans for the Kotri Left Bank drainage basin and the Chaj drainage basin, in tandem with the implementation of other recommendations. However, it has been pointed out that with the incorporation of these recommendations, the final draft plans would become only available next October.
In the context of the World Bank's concern regarding Pakistan's water-related problems are concerned, reference may specifically be made to its observations regarding serious social, economic and environmental implications. Mention, in this respect may be made of the Bank's focus on the domain of irrigated agriculture, which has remained beset by a number of negative factors.
These have been identified as lack of required efficiency in use of water and environment sustainability, large water-logged saline areas with low crop yields, depleting ground water resources, in terms of both quantity and quality, in the absence of an inter-provincial Drainage Accord. Due note needs to be taken of its observation that environmental water flow requirements for the Indus delta have to ensured and that competition and disputes among the riparian provinces call for further strengthening of the regulatory authority.
Seemingly keen on addressing these problems, though, the Water and Power Ministry appears to be faced with certain constraints. The government would do well to address the complacency in honouring the commitments with the World Bank in respect of water related developments on which hinge the prospects of the country meeting the existing and forthcoming challenges on this front.
Comments
Comments are closed.