Pak-India water dispute: New govt toapproach WB again

ISAMABAD: With the changing geo-political situation, Pakistani new political government would knock again at the door of the World Bank regarding Indian government’s violation of Indus Water Treaty 1960 and demand of it for setting up a ‘court of arbitration’ to settle the water disputes between the two countries.

India and Pakistan have dispute on the construction of 330MW Kishenganga and 850MWs of Ratle hydropower projects being built by Indian on Jehlum and Chenab respectively on which Pakistan has unrestricted use rights under the treaty.

Pakistan has severe objections to the designs of these controversial projects and Islamabad has been requesting the Bank for the constitution of court of arbitration since long, while India is asking for appointment of a neutral expert to look into the issue.

“A new government is coming into power in Pakistan, while the changing geo-political situation of the region, while China, Russia and Turkey are also acknowledging that water is the major issue of Pakistan, so World Bank must have to set up court of arbitration,” caretaker Federal Minister for Water resources Syed Ali Zafar said on Monday while responding to a question of media that the World Bank was not responding positively as Indian lobby was strong and its official was sitting on top posts of the Bank.

The minister also presented a ten-point guideline for the development of water sector of the country which the minister said have been formulated after taking opinions from water experts and other stakeholders.

As climate change is haunting the country and the crops patterns is changing, while the annual water availability of 138MAF could also change, construction of dams is very much necessary.

These guidelines suggest development of consensus on construction of Kalabagh Dam. Besides, work on construction of Diamer-Bhasha having water storage capacity of 11.7MAF and Mohmand Dam with 0.75MAF should be expedited. Besides, government should focus on construction of small dams and reservoirs.

At the time of the Indus Water Treaty in 1960, Pakistan had plan to construct eight dams and 400 reservoirs and run of river projects, as it was getting 138 million acres feet (MAF) of water annually. But, since then, it has built only two dams including Tarbella and Mangla dams which have 6.43MAF and 7.4MAF live water storage capacities respectively. The remaining water is either used for agriculture purposes and the huge amount of water goes into sea untapped. India has built dozens of dams and canals and other reservoirs during this period.

He suggests that water sector budget should be increased to 20 percent of the budget, which is currently three to seven percent and is far less than the spending on water in the world which is 20 to 30 percent.

Priority should be given to the lining of canals that could save 6.5MAF of water annually, which means that every year we could save water equivalent to the live capacity of Tarbella Dam. Currently, due to absence of lining of canals, half of [48 percent] water for agriculture sector wastes.

Adopting new agriculture system and modern equipment should be promoted and also provide financing to farmers for small projects. Water metering is needed. The government should also regulate the unregulated tube Wells that is currently one-third of a million, the minister said. The minister also suggested that there should be standardised equipment installed, as to remove confusion among the provinces on water distribution. There should be separate supply of drinking water to consumers. There should be sewage treatment plants.

Like Iran and Turkey, rain harvesting should be focused and small water reservoirs should be constructed for this purpose. To a question, he said that the reversing the Indus Water Treaty is not possible for both India and Pakistan and it is not in the interest of Pakistan. We have to exploit this treaty and do work on construction of water sector.

To a question how the government can develop consensus on Kalabagh dam, he replied that we can educate the opposing parties, but cannot force them. National interest should be the priority; however development of consensus on it would be a challenge for the new government.

Shamail Ahmad Khawaja, Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources said that that current hydel power installed capacity is 9383MW of which 7000MW is being generated. Current power generation from Tarbella is 3400MW, Mangla 200MW, Neelum-Jehlum 760MW and Ghazi-Barotha is 1400MW.