ISLAMABAD: The app­roval of National Water Policy, initially finalised in 2002, has been delayed once again even though all the provinces had broadly reached a consensus document.

Informed sources said the policy was recently taken up for approval at a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) held on Aug 25, but was dropped at the last moment on the desire of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

The meeting was told that the previous CCI, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, had “directed the Ministry of Water Resources to submit the National Water Policy for approval of the CCI”. Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Riaz Hussain Pirzada also told the Council that the Lahore High Court had repeatedly issued directions for an early approval of the policy by the CCI.

The CCI took up the draft policy moved by the Ministry of Water and Power and cleared by the provinces in February this year but the prime minister desired that the newly created Ministry of Water Resources should ‘re-examine’ and ‘re-submit’ the policy to the CCI.

Interestingly, the former Minister for Water and Power Khwaja Asif announced in January that the federal and provincial governments had finalised the first National Water Policy with mutual understanding and would be taken to the CCI for formal approval.

Earlier, the policy appro­val was delayed because of legal and constitutional questions and as a result there is no water policy at present. A draft NWP was prepared in 2005 by the Ministry of Water and Power after a detailed policy study by the World Bank-funded consultants and intensive consultation with stakeholders through 19 meetings and workshops. However, the policy documents could not be processed or approved by the cabinet.

In 2010, the decision to update the draft NWP was taken by taking stock of the latest developments in the water sector, especially the climate change and its impact on water resources.

Subsequently, a joint committee headed by the adviser for the water and power ministry, with members from Wapda, Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) and Water Sector Capacity Building and Advisory Services Project (WCAP), was constituted to finalise the draft NWP document.

The committee, after detailed consultations and deliberations, finalised the draft NWP document. In addition, the recommendations of the Report of Water Sector Task Force of Friends of Democratic Pakistan completed in October, 2012, were also taken into consideration while finalising the policy document.

When sent for vetting, the Ministry of Law and Justice held that “Legislative List of the Constitution, 1973, (4th Schedule), does not possess any such provision with regard to water policy, etc. As such, it is a provincial subject and federal ministry, if considers necessary, may issue this policy, in consultation with provinces through IPC”.

Subsequently, the draft NWP document was circulated by Ministry of Water and Power to provincial governments, all concerned stakeholders and eminent water experts for their views and comments. The crux of this exercise that all stakeholders wanted policy should explicitly describe the role of federal and provincial governments to spell out prime, lead and shared or subordinate role of provinces in the light of the Constitution.

The stakeholders also agreed that policy should not include irrigation, drainage, on-farm water management, irrigation practices, land reclamation, water productivity, salinity and water logging control, etc. as these areas have been the provincial responsibility even before the 18th Amendment.

There was a general consensus that the NWP should focus on trans-boundary water, inter-provincial water conflicts, hydropower dams on Indus Main and major tributaries, management of glaciers and snow in higher altitude and glaciated zone, river management and river health, mega infrastructure-inter-provincial irrigation, drainage and large dams outside Indus basin, and the environmental flows.

It was, therefore, envisaged in the updated policy that issues like irrigation, drainage, on-farm water management, water productivity and salinity, etc should be dealt by the provinces and the centre should focus on trans-boundary and interprovincial water issues and major hydropower and storage dams on major rivers, etc.

The stakeholders also have broad agreement to have a mechanism for charging all types of water use to ensure recovery of the cost of repair and maintenance of water infrastructure or the provinces would have to bear the cost in their respective areas if they so desired to support their farmers.

The policy will focus on transferring the responsibility for command area development to farmers because of government’s financial constraints. The delivery services of water for all its uses will be made economically and financially sustainable and social and economic value of water will be emphasised.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2017