April 11, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1428

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PESHAWAR, April 10: Inappropriate devolution of powers is affecting service delivery in the water supply and sanitation sectors of the NWFP, according to officials.

They said that under the Local Government Ordinance (LGO-2001), Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMAs) were responsible for the delivery of various municipal functions, including water supply and sanitation. Accordingly, the staff of the Public Health and Engineering Department (PHED) should have been devolved to the TMAs to provide them with the necessary capacity to undertake such tasks.

However functional devolution could not take place, particularly in this sector as the PHED staff were detailed to work for the district Works and Services Department instead of the Local Government and Rural Development Department (LG&RDD).

“This has created a lot of constraints in routine water supply-specific operations of the TMAs, besides creating anomalies in the system,” an official told Dawn.

The TMAs, according to him, were bound to run water supply schemes but they lack staff under the LGO 2001, whereas the districts, which do not have any such responsibilities, have surplus staff.

The resultant confusion has created problems in planning and implementing water supply and sanitation schemes, whereas in many cases it has resulted in overlapping and duplication of services, said the official.

Citing an example, another government functionary said that currently the PHED staff were engaged in mega-water supply schemes, which were either financed by the district governments or MPAs’ discretionary funds.

After completion, the official said, such schemes were handed over to the TMAs for regular operation and maintenance.

Since the TMAs have no role in planning and implementing the projects, they were often reluctant to take over the responsibility of operating and maintaining the schemes, the official said.

A senior official of the LG&RD informed Dawn that remedial steps were being taken to ensure devolution of PHED in accordance with the LGO-2001.

According to him, a committee constituted by the ex-chief secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi was currently working on an action plan for improving service delivery in the water supply sector.

The PHED and LG&RDD have reportedly agreed on a proposed merged structure, which would be submitted to the chief secretary soon, the official said.

In line with its mandate, the committee has also circulated a format of the Finance Department among all the TMAs in the province.

A cell has also been constituted in the LG&RDD to review and analyse all the drinking water supply schemes.