Water conservation plan demanded

Minister says huge amount of water gets wasted due to lack of check and balance

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Monday asked Capital Development Authority (CDA) and Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to form a comprehensive plan for the conservation of water in twin cities.

“The authorities of twin cities are responsible to make a comprehensive plan for the conservation of water as with the growing population, the water is reducing day by day,'' said the minister while emphasising the importance of water.

The minister made these remarks while chairing a workshop organised by the Ministry of Planning Development & Special Initiatives in collaboration with Agernce Française Development (AFD) to showcase the institutional and governance models of municipal service delivery in urban cities of Pakistan, particularly in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The workshop was attended by the Member Planning, Capital Development Authority (CDA), Member Environment, representatives of water and sanitation from all the provinces, and other relevant stakeholders.

The Ministry is providing a platform for coordination and knowledge sharing among all stakeholders while AFD is extending Technical Assistance on the assessment of municipal services in Islamabad and proposing a viable institutional solution.

The minister said that unfortunately, there is no mechanism to stop the wastage of water. “In the next couple of years, water shortage will be the biggest issue and there is a dire need to take practical steps to form an immediate action plan, '' said the minister, while directing the authorities to make an immediate plan in this regard. Ahsan Iqbal further added that across the world, respective governments collect water taxes to ensure that the consumers use water carefully, while in Pakistan a huge amount of water gets wasted due to a lack of checks and balances.

Similarly, the minister also highlighted the importance of sewage treatment plants and stressed the authorities to launch such plants so used water could be utilised in a better manner.

The minister also pointed out that besides governance we have behavior issues as well which need to be changed.

The wastage of water is a big problem for Pakistan but people do not change their behavior to address this issue, he remarked.

The participants said that the quality of municipal service delivery in Islamabad is not at par with the status of any planned capital city of the world. One among many factors for dismal municipal service delivery in Pakistan's capital city is the complex, fragmented and vague institutional and governance structure of service delivery that inhibits accountability, leading to duplication and poor coordination.

The current model of municipal service delivery is operating in "crisis management mode'' which is limiting the abilities of staff to plan, innovate and integrate (cutting edge technological and ICT solutions) into service delivery based on needs and demands, they concluded.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2022.