Devise crop-wise Abyana to meet expenses, conserve water: SIFC

ISLAMABAD: The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) has asked the Water Resources Ministry to furnish a proposal for crop-wise Abyana (water pricing) to meet the operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses of canals and irrigation systems, and conserve water as well.

More importantly, the four federating units would also finance the national water projects such as dams in the country through the revenue collected on account of water pricing. The SIFC Secretariat officials confirmed to The News that it had asked the Water Resources secretary to come up with a rational irrigation water pricing mechanism after having input from chief secretaries of the four provinces.

However, top ministry officials said according to conservative estimates, Rs300-325 billion revenue could be earned if a rational pricing mechanism was implemented by the four federating units. That money could be utilised to maintain and upgrade respective irrigation systems, and finance future national water projects, such as dams.

Earlier, the Water Resources ministry officials suggested a plan under which 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 provision of water to tail-end farmers, but also help the provinces to finance the national water projects, including dams.

The Water Resources ministry wanted the World Bank to conduct a study on water pricing mechanism in Pakistan, and it had written a letter to the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) to engage the World Bank.

The plan has been carved out in the face of shrinking fiscal space of the federal government, as it did not have funds even to finance the most important 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 currently stands at Rs80 per acre in Kharif season and Rs125 in Rabi season. However, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governments, 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 recommended in 2012 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 would go up to Rs300-325 billion, as Pakistan had 45 million acres of agricultural lands.

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