Water

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Media Workshop on Water Issues in Pakistan

Opening Remarks By:

Sangpa Tamang
Head, Results Management & Development Effectiveness Unit
Pakistan Resident Mission
Asian Development Bank

18-19 April 2005
Islamabad, Pakistan

Distinguished Journalists, Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you to Islamabad, and this workshop for sharing water
sector issues in Pakistan. I hope this workshop will increase the understanding amongst the
journalists the issues relating to water sector. I would like to share with you very briefly the
importance of the water sector in Pakistan, provide an outline of the ADB’s water policy, and
ADB’s involvement in the water sector of Pakistan.

Water is the lifeline for development of agriculture-based economies such as Pakistan. Its 16.2
million hectares of irrigated land supply more than 90 percent of the value of agricultural
production. Pakistan’s Indus River Basin represents the world’s largest contiuous irrigated
system with large investments over the last two centuries in barrages, link canals and 44 major
canal command areas. About 80% of the population is centered in the Indus plain. The Indus
river system commands an area of about 36.2 million acres.

Having recognized the importance of water sector in all developing member countries, including
Pakistan, ADB’s Board of Directors approved a policy in January 2001 known as Water for All:
The Water Policy of the Asian Development Bank. ADB’s Water Policy is premised on the Asian
and Pacific Region’s urgent need to formulate and implement integrated, cross-sectoral
approaches to water management and development. It seeks to promote the concept of water
as a socially vital economic good that needs increasingly careful management to sustain
equitable economic growth and to reduce poverty. The conservation and protection of water
resources in the region through a participatory approach are at the heart of the policy.

ADB’s water Policy includes seven principal elements:

1. Promote a national focus on water sector reform – The developing member countries will be
supported to adopt effective water policies, water laws, and sector coordination arrangements;
improve institutional capacities and information management; and develop a national action
agenda for water sector. The needs of the poor will be specifically factored into legal,
institutional and administrative framework.

2. Foster integrated management of water resources – The integrated water resources
management will be based on conducting comprehensive water resources assessments, and
concentrating interlinked water investments in river basins.

3. Improve and expand the delivery of water services – Focusing on Water supply and
sanitation (both rural and urban), irrigation and drainage, and other subsectors, support will be
provided for autonomous and accountable service providers, private sector participation, and
public-private partnership, emphasizing equity in access to water for poor and underserved.

4. Foster the conservation of water and increase system efficiencies – Packages that combine
water use and resource management charges to recover costs, improve regulation and increase
public awareness to ensure that the poor are not excluded will be supported.

5. Promote regional cooperation – The primary focus will on the exchange of information and
experiences in water sector reform. Support will be provided to enhance awareness of benefits
of shared water resources, create sound hydrologic and socio-environment databases relevant
to the management of trans-boundary water resources, and implement joint projects between
riparian countries.

6. Facilitate the exchange of water sector information and experience – Socially inclusive
development principles will be supported to promote stakeholder consultation and participation
at all levels, increase access to basic water services by poor consumers, and enhance water
investments in the developing member countries through public-private-community-NGO
partnership.

7. Improve governance – This will be accomplished by promoting decentralization, building
capacity, and strengthening monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning at all levels,
particularly in public sector institutions.

The water policy builds on ADB’s strategy for poverty reduction and specifically provides
for the involvement of the poor in water conservation and management. It recognizes that the
specific needs and vulnerabilities of the poor are central in formulating sound and equitable
water strategies. In the late 1980s, the ADB became the major donor to the sector, along with
the World Bank, and the Government of Japan. Apart from supporting infrastructure projects,
small-scale irrigation and on-farm water management have also been supported through area
development projects and on a stand-alone basis, respectively. The focus of ADB assistance in
the sector during 1991-1997 was the improvement and expansion of irrigation and drainage
facilities, including construction of flood protection facilities, and efficient use and management
of water at the farm level. In 1997, a major program of institutional and policy reforms for
improved water resource management was initiated under the National Drainage Program
(NDP) by establishing Provincial Irrigation and Drainage Authorities (PIDA). However the results
of our interventions have not been so successful mainly because of varying levels of ownership
and political commitments to take the programs forward. So the challenges are there all the
way.

The challenges the water sector of Pakistan facing are:

• Population Growth and changing demographics
• Increasing agricultural demands for water
• Declining water resources
• Weak water management and governance