Govt plans irrigation water pricing mechanism across country

ISLAMABAD: The government has worked out a plan under which the four federating units would also finance the national water projects such as dams in the country.

Under the plan, a rational water pricing mechanism would be implemented by the provincial governments that would not only help the four provincial governments upgrade their respective irrigation systems, including the lining of canals, to ensure the reach of water to tail-end farmers, but also help the provinces to finance the national water projects as dams.

The World Bank would conduct a study on the water pricing mechanism in Pakistan, as per a letter written by the Ministry of Resources to Economic Affairs Division.

According to top officials in Water Resources Ministry, there are estimates that a revenue of Rs300-325 billion could be earned by the four federating units, and it could be utilized to upgrade respective irrigation systems and finance future national water projects such as dams.

This plan has been carved out given the shrinking fiscal space of the federal government, as it does not have funds even to finance other sectors like health, education, communication and housing. It has become a challenge for the federal government to provide the requisite funds for ensuring continuous development of water resources infrastructure in the provinces.

“The annual water pricing stands at Rs80 per acre in Kharif season and Rs125 in Rabi season. However, KPK and Punjab government in different areas are charging water prices up to Rs400 per acre annually. This is how the average water price hovers in the country at Rs125-200 per acre in one year,” said the officials.

However, the task force on water in 2012 recommended that the cost of pumping out the groundwater for one acre stands at $25-$80, which should be the pricing of surface water per acre in one year. If the government starts charging the minimum $25 (Rs7,000) per acre annually from farmers, the revenue will go up to Rs300-325 billion since Pakistan has 45 million acres of agricultural land.

The Council of Common Interests (CCI), the officials said, has already approved the National Water Policy in 2018, but the provincial irrigation departments are not taking the required prices of the water surface from the landlord farmers.

They said the World Bank would be approached to explore the possibility of providing technical assistance and financial assistance by way of deploying a team of water sector experts conversant in the fields of irrigated agriculture, cropping pattern, land and soil types, and infrastructure development.

This team will study the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS) and areas that are outside the Indus Basin like in Balochistan in order to develop a rational and robust water pricing mechanism as well as suggest an effective enforcement. The World Bank would also suggest an effective enforcement methodology.

The study would also focus on the land use classification with a clear delineation of areas presently receiving irrigation water along with the cropping pattern being followed by farmers during Rabi and Kharif seasons. The study would also emphasize the delineation of the areas representing soil types along with their fertility potential besides mapping irrigation infrastructure covering the whole range from a barrage or dam to the farm-level irrigation channels.

The World Bank would also conduct a study on the water requirements of crops being grown in the Indus Basin system and Balochistan and would work on the water availability in terms of surface and groundwater supplies to farms.

Reliability and efficiency of water supplies to farmers in terms of timeliness and adequacy of requisite irrigation water required at the time of irrigating the given crops would also be part of the study.

The study would also cover a social survey to assess the willingness to pay the water price by the farmers to the government.