WASA Lahore secures biggest budget share

The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Lahore has emerged as the primary beneficiary in Punjab's development outlay for the water and sanitation sector in fiscal year 2025-26, securing the lion's share of funds under the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

According to the budget document presented by Punjab Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman in the Punjab Assembly, a total of 94 ongoing schemes worth Rs58.13 billion have been allocated across five WASA agencies.

Of these, Lahore alone accounts for 59 projects with an estimated cost of Rs24.83 billion, highlighting a sharp imbalance in the distribution of development funds.

The remaining four agencies — Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, and Rawalpindi — have been allocated a combined total of only 35 schemes valued at Rs33.29 billion.

Critics have pointed to this disparity as a sign of systemic neglect toward cities outside the provincial capital. In terms of new schemes, WASA Lahore again topped the list with 24 new initiatives for the upcoming fiscal year.

WASA Gujranwala received only two new projects — valued at Rs5.9 billion and Rs1.51 billion respectively — with budgeted allocations of just Rs.122 million and Rs.13 million for the next year.

Despite submitting hundreds of new proposals, agencies such as WASA Multan, Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi were left out of the new development portfolio altogether.

Senior officials from these agencies, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed frustration over the exclusion, warning that millions of residents, especially in Faisalabad — the textile hub of Pakistan — will remain deprived of clean drinking water.

For ongoing projects, WASA Faisalabad received funding for 17 schemes worth Rs19.5 billion, while WASA Multan secured four schemes totalling Rs5.17 billion, and WASA Rawalpindi was granted five projects amounting to Rs6.38 billion. However, actual fund allocations for 2025-26 remain meagre: Rs126 million for Faisalabad, Rs365 million for Multan, and Rs.166 million for Rawalpindi — figures that stakeholders say are insufficient to meaningfully advance the existing work.