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$175m for Sindh water management project

Karachi

The World Bank (WB)-funded 175 million-dollar project in Sindh’s water sector will be likely to improve water management that would lead to increased agriculture production over 1.8 million hectares, employment, and income over more than 30 per cent of the irrigated area in Sindh, Irrigation and Power Minister Murad Ali Shah informed the Sindh Assembly.

He said that the project, titled “Sindh Water Sector Improvement Project Phase-I (WSIP-1),” started in 2007, and will be completed in December 2012.

In his written reply to a question from Heer Soho, the minister said that the project was aimed at improving the efficiency of irrigation water distribution in three Area Water Boards (AWBs), namely, Ghotki, Nara, and the Left Bank, particularly with respect to measures of “reliability, equity and user satisfaction”.

It would be achieved in three ways — deepening and broadening institutional reforms that are already under way in Sindh; improving the irrigation system in a systematic way covering key hydraulic infrastructure, main and branch canals and distributaries and minors; and enhancing long-term sustainability of irrigation system through participatory irrigation management and developing institutions for improving operation and maintenance of the system and cost recovery.

He said that from July 2007 to April 2009, around Rs327.829 million were released but only Rs47.879m were utilised. Sindh’s share in the project was Rs1,000 million. Under the project, around 72 distributaries, 26 branch canals and seven main canals will be rehabilitated and improved. In his written reply to a question from Nusrat Abbasi, the minister said that sometimes tail-enders faced a shortage of water because of various reasons ranging from low flows in the rivers, tampering of water courses in the upper reaches, to other methods of water theft etc.

Meanwhile, Minister for Public Health Engineering (PHE), Muhammad Adil Siddiqui, in his written reply to a question from Humera Alwani said that nine people, including four women and two children died after consuming contaminated water in Khairpur during the period in question.

Given the extent of contaminated water in the province, the minister said that the Sindh government was giving topmost priority to providing clean drinking water to people. He said that the PHE Department was executing 75 water supply schemes in different districts at a cost of Rs3.71 billion.

To a question from Arif Jatoi, the minister said that sub-soil was always tested from the PHE laboratory and other laboratories before launching water supply schemes in order to ascertain its quality.

Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani in his written reply to a question from Farheen Mughal said the drainage system in Hyderabad had been dilapidated over a period of time. It had, however, been revamped and restored under the governor’s package worth Rs29.1325 million. The minister said drains and sewers are being maintained by the town municipal administration (TMA). The sewers had been laid on Station Road, Risala Road, and Cloth Market Road. The TMA city intended to desilt the drainage system on a “regular basis”.