05 July 2004	Monday	16 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

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ISLAMABAD, July 4: The World Bank has asked Pakistan to give more powers and authority to the Indus River System Authority and make it an autonomous body to enable to play a meaningful role in settling inter-provincial disputes over water sharing, it is learnt.

The five-member Irsa has at present only two members, and one of them is working on a part-time basis. No appointment has so far been made for the three posts, two of them from Sindh, that had fallen vacant in September-October last year.

Water and Power Minister Aftab Sherpao, however, is of the view that the provincial irrigation secretaries were currently working in place of regular Irsa members and the absence of majority members was in no way affecting the performance of the authority or the water distribution mechanism.

In a recent letter to the federal government, the World Bank identified the reasons behind water-sharing disputes and suggested development of more inter-provincial infrastructure to deal with the problem.

It said the provinces seldom received their full share and faced shortages even when there was no dearth of water. The operations of Irsa were hampered by political interference and bickering among the provinces, it said and added that its functioning lacked transparency.

No credible information was available about the location and timing of the flow and there was a lack of storage and diversion capacity to fully utilize the available water in the Indus basin, the bank maintained.

It said the 1991 water accord was an ad hoc quasi-legal framework for dividing portion of Indus river flows on the basis of water used by the provinces since 1970.

It called for introducing a formal legal system of secure, tradable water rights based on total availability of water in the basin, including a mechanism for dispute resolution, recourse to the justice system and mechanism for adjustments to account for seasonal and annual variability of supply or quotas.

Such a shift to the sharing of water from the basin would not endanger customary diversions at canal headworks, particularly on Indus tributaries and would also give Irsa a greater operating flexibility in allocating flows to ensure that seasonal water quotas were fulfilled on time during each season, the bank said.

This would put a premium on good planning and water management in the provinces and an effective collaboration between the provinces and Irsa, it added. In revising the legislation, the bank suggested, Irsa should be given the necessary responsibilities, functions and powers to administer the water rights system, regulate inter-provincial water use and operate the inter-provincial infrastructure.

In terms of regulatory and operating authority, the present legislation should be clarified and sharpened to minimize ambiguity and conflict. In making these changes, particular care should be taken in revising Irsa's governance structure to ensure its autonomy and independence as well as its responsiveness to the political leadership and civil society, the bank added.

Since 1991, a diversion equal to the total allocation of 114.35maf had never been achieved, the bank said. The accord allocation of 114.35maf (excluding the allocation for civil canals in the NWFP) is about 9-10 per cent higher than the average historical use of the Indus basin, prior to the accord, about 103-104maf.

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