Water Infrastructure

On Wednesday, the Planning Commission put a price tag of nearly $18 billion on improving Pakistan's water infrastructure, even as the World Bank expressed dissatisfaction with progress on a major hydropower and renewable energy project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The contrast is hard to miss. Islamabad wants to raise water-use efficiency from 40 to 70 per cent by 2029, while a scheme approved six years ago remains bogged down in delays and poor disbursements. Ambitious targets are all very well, but the country has a habit of letting good intentions run aground. The World Bank-backed programme was originally estimated to cost $ 727 million, with the 88MW Gabral-Kalam hydropower plant among its principal investments. Yet only $3.95 million of a $200 million loan component and $34 million of another $240 million facility have been disbursed. The Madyan hydropower scheme has already been dropped, freeing approximately $147m for other investments. The bank does acknowledge some progress on construction and land acquisition at Gabral-Kalam. Still, with the November 2027 deadline approaching, the slow pace of spending calls for renewed attention. Security concerns have further complicated matters. Last month, World Bank officials could not inspect project sites in KP because of travel restrictions, leaving assessments of proposed investments incomplete. The province's security troubles are now casting a long shadow over its development prospects. Procurement delays and administrative shortcomings have hardly helped. Meanwhile, the country's water troubles are coming home to roost. The Indus River System Authority has approved a 22 per cent shortage projection for Punjab and Sindh during the current Rabi season, raising concerns about wheat cultivation. Against this backdrop, the Planning Commission wants water storage capacity raised from 15.3 million acre-feet to 23.5 million by 2029, alongside the recycling of at least a quarter of urban wastewater. These proposals deserve serious attention in a country where agriculture accounts for roughly 95 per cent of freshwater withdrawals. There is another problem brewing underground. Groundwater levels in Punjab are reportedly falling by half a metre to a metre annually. Solar-powered tubewells may have brought relief to farmers struggling with electricity costs, but unchecked pumping could eventually leave them high and dry. Linking subsidies to groundwater registration and extraction limits, as the commission proposes, would be a sensible place to start. The difficulty, as ever, lies in turning plans into practice. The proposed $18 billion investment stretches over a decade, yet several targets are to be achieved by 2029. Federal and provincial authorities owe the public a credible account of how the money will be raised, where it will be spent and who will answer for missed deadlines. Existing schemes must also be brought back on track. Pakistan has never been short of plans drawn up in Islamabad. What it cannot afford is to keep pouring money into projects that struggle to get off the ground. With farmers already bracing for reduced supplies, the country has little time left to waste. *