Water

Country Water Action: Pakistan
Plans to Increase Investment in Irrigation Unveiled
(July 2006)

Pakistan's population has ballooned to 160 million, necessitating upgrades of basic services that include improvements in irrigation and water supply services. A new country development program will finance impressive projects. Will the money be enough?

Contents Opening The Money Bags Financing Dams And Other Infrastructures Money For Drip And Sprinkle Irrigation Financing Water For Pakistan

Pakistan has decided to release the purse-strings for the water sector, especially for irrigation improvements, as a strategy for development.

Pakistan's Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan has set aside PRs435 billion (US$7.5 million) for the country's Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) in the budget for fiscal year 2006-2007.

Roughly 8% of the PSDP budget (PRs53.55 billion) is earmarked for expanding irrigation, building reservoirs, and improving drinking water and sanitation services.

"The investments in irrigation will save 25% of water that is now being wasted," Khan said as he presented the budget for the PSDP on 5 June. On 21 June, Pakistan's Parliament approved the new spending plan.

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Around PRs47.74 billion of the PSDP budget will be allocated to the Water and Power Division (WPD), which oversees irrigation infrastructures, including reservoirs.

Most of the WPD funds will be spent on ongoing projects. PRs11 billion will be used to raise the height of the Mangla dam, Pakistan's second largest reservoir. It also plans to upgrade three major water resources—Katchi in Balochistan province will get PRs5.5 billion, while Thal in Punjab and Rainee in Sindh will receive PRs1.5 billion each.

The remaining funds will finance the construction of new dams—Gomal Zam, Kurram Tangi, Mirani, Satpara, and Sabakzi. It will also be spent on projects for improving drainage and for undertaking feasibility studies for building small dams in the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

The Pakistan Planning Commission says the projects now underway will help raise water availability from 137.38 million acre feet (MAF) in 2005-2006 to 138.86 MAF in 2006-2007. Mangla dam's completion will add another 2.9 MAF of water by September 2007. Similarly, the Gomal Zam, which will be completed by early 2009, will be able to store another 1.14 MAF of water and help bring irrigation to 183,086 acres of land irrigation in the NWFP.

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The Finance Minister has also set aside PRs1 billion to introduce drip and sprinkle irrigation in the country. The investment is part of a government plan to spend PRs15 billion for expanding these irrigation technologies.

"Sprinkle and drip irrigation projects will bring a revolution in agriculture," says Pakistan Agriculture Minister Sikandar Hayat Bosan. A quarter of Pakistan's PRs7.5 trillion (US$120 billion) Gross Domestic Product comes from agriculture, which is highly dependent on irrigation. The agriculture sector employs almost 44.8% of Pakistan's workforce.

The new irrigation technologies are expected to complement the country's highly inefficient canal-based (flood) irrigation system, where much water is wasted. Private companies are expected to be involved in the projects.

Water expert Faiz Ahmad Zaidi says, however, that the amount allocated for introducing drip and sprinkle irrigation methods is still small considering what is needed to address the inefficiencies in flood-irrigation. "The day is not far when we may have to move away completely from flood irrigation, and get used to using water in drops," says Zaidi.

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Pakistan's ever-increasing population—now 160 million—has caused the per capita water availability to drop from about 5,300 cubic meters in 1950 to 1,100 cubic meters in 2005, prompting the government to spend more.

About PRs4 billion will be allocated for the Clean Drinking Water for All (CDWA) project to increase access to safe drinking water. The plan is to install one water purification plant in each of the country's 6,035 union councils by December 2007. Under this program, Pakistan's access to safe drinking water is expected to increase from 65% in 2004-2005 to 93% by 2015, in time for the Millennium Development Goals deadline, particularly for the Water Target.

"I feel the government is going in the right direction," says Shamsul Mulk, former Chairman, Water and Power Development Authority.

Under another on-going activity under the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock (MINFAL), the government is upgrading 87,000 canals, of which about 15,000 are to be brick-lined by the end of June. The budget sets aside another PRs6 billion for the activity in 2006-2007.

"The development of water resources is the key to the economic progress of Pakistan," says Karamat Ali, Secretary of the Pakistan Water Partnership. "Budgetary measures regarding water will be instrumental for the uplift of our agrarian economy."