John Briscoe and Usman Qamar. Pakistan's Water Economy: Running Dry.

Khan, Faheem Jehangir

John Briscoe and Usman Qamar. Pakistan's Water Economy: Running Dry. The World Bank. 2005. 121 pages. Paperback. Price not given.

Water management and supplies are the central development challenges facing Pakistan today. This report argues for dramatic changes in policy and approach to enable Pakistan to build and maintain new infrastructure, besides securing the water required for the future generations.

The report highlights a set of challenges which have to be addressed--how to maintain what has been built, what major new system-wide infrastructure needs to be built, what infrastructure needs to be built for populations who have not been served and for environmental protection, and how to build institutions that will manage the resource effectively in the looming era of scarcity.

Focusing on two basic issues the country's major water-related challenges, and ways of addressing them the report calls for reinvigorated public water policies and institutions to sustain water development and management in the future. First is rehabilitation and maintenance. Many elements of the vast hydraulic system are now reaching the end of their design lives, and have to be rebuilt. There is an enormous backlog of deferred maintenance. Second is the urgent need for construction of major new storage on the river Indus. Third, there are needs for large investments in meeting the needs of those who do not have water and sanitation services in cities, towns and villages. Fourth, Pakistan has been accumulating an "environmental debt" by not investing in municipal and industrial wastewater. It is clear that this has to change, and that it is going to take large amounts of investments. Fifth and finally, Pakistan has to invest simultaneously in infrastructure and in develop the institutions required for the sustainable management of increasingly-scarce water.

The report highlights three essential tasks the government faces. First, is to set priorities for the short and medium term. Second, to define the principles which will govern what proportions of the initial and recurrent costs are paid by taxpayers and by users. Third, government has to ensure that the limited financial resources are used very efficiently. This is obviously not happening in the "business-as-usual" model at present. It is going to mean exploring a whole set of mechanisms for introducing competition, for paying for output not inputs, and for increasing accountability.

Arguing that water development and management is one of the central development challenges facing Pakistan, this report examines the evolution of the management of Pakistan's waters. Drawing heavily on documents by eminent practitioners and policy analysts, it suggests what changes should be considered in how to manage the transition from past practices in a principled and pragmatic manner. (Faheem Jehangir Khan)