Water woes: CCI overlooks flood protection plan for third time this year

Council members fail to agree on funds required for executing the scheme

ISLAMABAD: Members of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) failed to agree on sanctioning funds required for executing the fourth National Flood Protection Plan for a third time this year.

The flood protection plan was tabled for review before the CCI when it met on December 16. The plan is crucial for warding off acute shortages of irrigation water across the country by constructing small reservoirs and dams, and promoting conservation practices.

An official who played a key role in formulating the flood protection plan told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that the CCI had disapproved the plan for third time this year over funding issues.

In the meeting, the official said, the provincial governments had urged the federal government to provide full funding for the effective implementation of the plan, but the government indicated it could provide only partial funding.

“Persistent delays have already increased the cost of the National Flood Protection Plan to Rs332,246 million from Rs177,661 million over the past 10 months,” he said.

According to him, provinces need additional funding of Rs154,586 million.

He said that in 2007, when it was decided to chalk out the plan, all provincial governments were dependent on federal government for funding, but after the devolution in 2011, they depend on their own resources.

“The National Flood Protection Plan is vital for Pakistan as the country is exposed to a variety of hydro-meteorological disasters, including heavy floods, claiming many lives every year, affecting agriculture production and damaging property. But the fate of this plan is still uncertain since 2007.

“Since that time, Pakistan has faced devastating floods. Just because of the absence of such a plan, it is estimated that floods caused losses amounting to $18 billion to the national exchequer between  2010 and 2015,” said the official.

Furthermore,   the official said, the plan will help promote water conservancy in the country that is crucial to counter the effects of drought-like conditions which are likely to hit Pakistan by 2025.

On February, 29 this year, the National Flood Protection Plan was presented in CCI for the first time. Subsequently, the plan was submitted again for a review in CCI meeting held on March, 22 this year, but was returned to enable the federal government to complete the consultative process by addressing the reservations expressed by Sindh and K-P governments,” he said.

“Both provincial governments had claimed that the plan was formulated without consulting them,” he said. Additionally, the provincial governments had claimed that the plan had been formulated without adequate research, while some officials had expressed concerns over the construction of dams under this plan, said the official.

The Express Tribune tried to contact the Federal Flood Commission’s concerned officials but they were not aware of the disapproval by the CCI.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2016.