ISLAMABAD, April 10: The national water policy draft is in final stages and will be presented before the cabinet shortly for approval, said Riaz Ahmad Khan, the secretary, ministry of water and power.

He was speaking at the launching ceremony of Pakistan Water Gateway, an information portal on water, organized by the IUCN here on Thursday.

Mr Khan said the policy mainly focussed on the concept of integrated water resources management to use all water resources for the development of agriculture, industry and human consumption in a sustainable way.

Later, talking to journalists, Mr Khan said the government had held in-depth discussions with stakeholders to formulate a consensus policy.

To a question, he said the opinion of all the beneficiaries had been incorporated in the proposed policy to make it realistic, holistic and acceptable to the provincial governments.

He said a proper mechanism had been provided for financial sustainability to maintain the system.

Asked if the government had consulted provinces on National Water Policy, Khan replied that the government had held deliberations with the provincial irrigation departments and public sector organizations, working on health and environment issues.

“Emotive issue and tension between the provinces on dams are due to dearth of reliable data and information on these subjects.”

On the issue of increased tariff, the official said tariffs were decided by the Nepra and the ministry was a notifying agency.

Almost 70 per cent of water across the globe was being directly consumed in agriculture, whereas for a country like Pakistan the figure has exceeded 90 per cent.

Speaking on the launching ceremony, Abdul Latif Rao, the country representative of IUCN in Pakistan, said unfortunately, Pakistan lacked the culture of information sharing and open access.

He said Pakistan Water Gateway would bridge the gap between the government, civil society, media, water experts, students, researchers and the general public.

The Gateway is a website for all water-related information pertaining to Pakistan. The website has been launched by the IUCN with the support of Netherlands.