LAHORE: The Punjab government is all set to issue a formal notification for the establishment of the Punjab Water and Sanitation Authority (PWASA), as the law department is working on it these days.

After the issuance of the notification, all five water and sanitation agencies (Wasa) in the province would come out of the administrative command of their respective development authorities and come under the complete control of PWASA, Dawn has learnt.

“After the issuance of the formal notification, which is a requirement under the law, PWASA would become operational, binding the Wasa of Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, and Rawalpindi to start reporting to the new administration (PWASA) instead of their respective development authorities, including LDA, MDA, FDA, GDA, and RDA,” Lahore Wasa Managing Director Ghufran Ahmad told Dawn on Saturday.

“Hopefully, the formal notification will be issued before next Sunday,” he believed.

According to the gazette notification issued on Jan 29, the chief minister of Punjab would be the chairperson of the new authority (PWASA), followed by a vice-chairman to be nominated by the chief minsiter. The other members include the Planning & Development Department/Board chairman or their representative not below the rank of additional secretary, finance department secretary or their representative, housing, urban development and public engineering department secretary or their representative, local government and community development department secretary or their representative, the managing director of each Wasa, four technical experts from the fields of water supply, sanitation, hydrology, and law, and the director general of PWASA.

“The authority may co-opt any other expert for its assistance in meetings, but such a co-opted expert shall not have any right to vote. It shall meet at least once every three months at such a time and place and observe such procedure with regard to the transaction of its business as may be prescribed by the regulations and, until so prescribed, as the authority may determine,” reads the notification.

While discussing PWASA’s powers and functions, the notification mentions that the authority would be liable to make and enforce policies for the development and maintenance of water supply and sanitation systems, develop, propose, and implement key performance indicators, as well as minimum standards for service delivery by the agency, and review and monitor the performance of the Wasa of Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, and Rawalpindi.

It shall also determine, review, and approve fees and charges for the supply of water, sanitation services, or any other service provided under the Punjab Water and Sanitation Act; coordinate with any other authority performing similar functions in any other areas; review and decide human resource-related matters; administer and enforce the act and rules and regulations made or framed there under; hire advisers or consultants for the purpose of the act; regulate and prohibit the use and extraction of groundwater; constitute standing or special committees or any other bodies as it deems necessary and delegate or assign functions to such committees for carrying out the purposes of the act; and perform such other functions or exercise such other powers as may be necessary and ancillary thereto.

The act empowers the chief minister to appoint the director general for PWASA for a period of three years.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2025