HYDERABAD, Oct 29: After clearance by the cabinet, the Governor of Sindh on Monday promulgated the Sindh Water Management Ordinance 2002.
The ordinance provides a legal framework for the institutional reforms in the water management in Sindh. Besides, it will be instrumental in expediting the urgently-needed reforms in the irrigation and drainage sector.
Through the ordinance, the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) will act as a reform agent, take over the main irrigation (barrages), drainage and flood protection infrastructure, and implement participatory water management according to modern business principles, as had already been stipulated in the previous SIDA Act.
The area water boards (AWBs), the former irrigation and drainage circles of the IPD, and Farmers Organizations (FOs) will take over the management of the main and branch canals, and distributaries and water courses.
The managing director, SIDA, Mumtaz Ali Memon, told Dawn that the previous SIDA Act 1997 did not address some important issues adequately. This hampered the progress of the reforms.
The new Sindh Water Management Ordinance solves many of the outstanding issues and forms a true basis for user participation in irrigation, drainage, and flood protection, thereby increasing the efficient use of the scarce water resources, Memon claimed.
The new ordinance clearly defines in legal terms the status of the SIDA, the composition of the SIDA Board, as well as management procedures which guarantee efficiency and good decision making.
In the same way, the AWBs and FOs are defined as autonomous organizations with a well-defined structure and mechanism to ensure their functioning.
Mr Mumtaz said the new organizations will be run on modern business principles without any interference or favouritism. A regulatory authority is foreseen to function as a supervising organization, which will monitor the compliance with the ordinance by different organizations and which will act as an arbitrator in case of conflicts or in matters that exceed the competence of various organizations.
He claimed that the promulgation of the Sindh Water Management Ordinance would enable the SIDA to carry out its operations efficiently and make progress in reforms at a fast pace.
The ultimate beneficiaries of this reform process will be the growers who will receive better service and a more reliable water delivery by participating in the management of the irrigation system.
He said that the Institutional Reforms Consultants (IRC) to SIDA, which had been deployed through the National Drainage Programme, had played a pivotal role in formulating and compiling the ordinance.
He said the promulgation of the ordinance, which is progressive and gives an answer to the need of the hour, can give the growers confidence that the reforms in the irrigation and drainage system of Sindh will move at a fast pace and to their benefit.
Mr Mumtaz stressed an important step towards better use of the water resources has been taken.
