The Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources (PCWR) has asked the Finance Ministry to allocate Rs 8.1 billion to provinces for lining of canals, water courses and other water distribution channels.
Nisar Memon, chairman of the committee, told a press conference on Monday that a summary had been submitted to the ministry of finance on April 3, 2004, seeking allocation of Rs 8.1 billion for the four provinces to strengthen their water distribution and utilisation systems.
In this respect the estimates of requirement were received from the provinces and they have been accommodated accordingly "in our recommendations".
Once the summary is approved and funds released, Balochistan would get Rs 3.82 billion, NWFP Rs 1.85 billion, Punjab Rs 1.4 billion and Sindh Rs 1.1 billion, Memon said.
He said that PCWR was set up with the four broadly recognised purposes and considerable progress had been made since. "We had decided to contact provincial governments to develop consensus on the issues raised by the stakeholders, conduct water survey downstream Kotri, lining of water courses and finding out possible solutions of issues pertaining to small dams." These four broad areas constituted terms of reference of the PCWR, he added.
Memon said that downstream Kotri survey was in the final stages and would be complete within one year. "This work of water flow assessment was pending for more than half a century," he added.
He said that Water Accord 1991 was sacrosanct and would neither be scrapped nor altered; only interpretation of its provisions would be made in consultation with the provinces and other stakeholders to suit the national requirement.
He said that the complications of its clauses had raised apprehensions of the provinces regarding its life. "We would resolve it to the satisfaction of the stakeholders and it would live as it is and as its spirit demands," he added.
Memon said that the PCWR would finalise its interim report by mid-June 2004 and submit it to the prime minister. "It would be a consensus document and would address all ticklish issues covered under its terms of reference."
He said that as far as the report of the Technical Committee on water distribution was concerned he was not in a position to comment on its working. "This committee has been set up under the ministry of water and power. It will study technical aspects water resources and its distribution. It is expected to submit its report by February 2005."
Memon said, "We always invite them to our meetings and seek the opinion of Mr. Abbasi, chairman of the technical committee, whenever he is available."
Memon said that there was neither any difference nor conflict of interests between the two committees but what was needed was "more formal interaction."
He said that the provinces had no reservations on small dams but as far as big dams were concerned each province had its own point of view " and we respect that".
Earlier, Memon had chaired a meeting of the PCWR, which was followed by the press conference. The daylong meeting discussed a number of issues and reviewed progress of the committee on its earlier decisions.
He said that the PCWR convened its meetings through the provincial governments and invited representatives of all the political parties and stakeholder.
"In today's meeting, neither PPPP nor any other opposition party participated." At the same time, MQM was conspicuous by its absence.