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ISLAMABAD, March 23: The World Bank has asked Pakistan to overhaul and replace the 1991 Indus water apportionment accord and publish a white paper in consultation with the federating units about the water sector problems, needs and irrigation governance problems.
A senior government official told Dawn that the bank has also asked the government to introduce an economic water pricing system (Abiana) fully commensurate with operation and maintenance costs of the existing system and funding of the future development projects in the water and irrigation sector.
The official quoted a recent communication from the World Bank as saying the original accord should be overhauled and replaced by a formal legal system of secure, tradable water rights based on the total availability of water in the (Indus) basin and including mechanisms for dispute resolution, recourse to the justice system and mechanisms for adjustments to account for seasonal and annual variability of supply or quotas.
Such a shift to sharing the waters of the basin would not endanger existing aggregate shares, or customary diversions at canal headwork particularly on Indus tributaries, but would give Indus River System Authority (Irsa) greater operating flexibility in allocating flows to ensure that all seasonal water quotas are fulfilled on time during each season.
This would also put a premium on good planning and water management in the provinces, and effective collaboration between the provinces and Irsa. Irsa's powers, authority and autonomy, and specially its technical capacity would have to be strengthened significantly for this work effectively.
NEW ACCORDS: The water accord does not appear to work at all in the eyes of most stakeholders, said the bank and added that new accords on drainage, environmental flow requirements in the lower Indus river and estuary (downstream Kotri) and reservoir operating policy and water allocation, including integration of irrigation and hydropower policies, need to be developed.
It is extremely unfortunate that at a time when the government must commit to a major, costly long-term investment strategy, some elements from within the government have already engendered angry debate and protest, the bank said.
The bank has, therefore, advised that in the context of a renewed commitment to the core principles and outcomes of the reforms process, the urgent and immediate aim should be to recast the programme by building on the lessons and experience gained so far, deepening knowledge of the factors and issues that have been exposed through that experience, overcome gaps and problems in the national drainage programme.
TIMEFRAME: This white paper or policy and programme paper should include planning, targeted studies and assessments involving third parties from regional and international level and open and hold lengthy consultations.
Success of the paper should be enhanced by setting a definite timeframe and establishing a joint high-level working group to coordinate and manage the preparation of the white paper.
The bank has criticized the low water sector funding allocations. It said that assuming a sustained increase of 40 per cent per year beyond 2004, the total PSDP allocation for water resources and irrigation would grow to Rs109 billion but available funds fall far short (about 30 per cent) of which is required to sustain the PSDP-2004 over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF), and just 55 per cent of what is needed by the medium-term investment plan over the same period.
The result of the mismatch between funding and proposed investment will be substantial delays in project implementation, low rates of timely project completion, increased project cost and deferred benefits.
The bank is critical of continuously deteriorating analytical capacity for strategic planning in the water and irrigation sector. No institution in this sector today is willing to take ownership of the analytical challenges posed by these questions, and the capacity built in the 1960s and early 1980s to do this has largely been allowed to dissipate.
There is little or no ongoing investigation, planning or study apart from individual project feasibility studies that would help to answer questions about how much additional water supply and irrigation makes economic or social sense in Pakistan, in what sequence these developments make the most sense, or how and in what ways the rural economy will develop to accommodate the huge increases in population that are foreseen.
