A study was undertaken, under the National Drainage Program (1997-2003) to provide a basis for the formulation of a National Water Policy. The first draft of the policy was submitted in 2003 which was revised in 2005 and 2008, but could not be finalized or approved due to controversies arising from inter provincial allocation of water.
Recently the Ministry of Water Resources, after further consultations with the provinces prepared another draft of the National Water Policy which was submitted to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for consideration at its 34 session held in December, 2017 where the following decision was taken: "CCI approved the proposal of Minister for Interior that a committee headed by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, and comprising Minister for Power Division, Federal Secretaries of Water Resources, Planning, Development and Reform, Power Division and Chief Secretaries of all the Provinces, be constituted, for further examination of the Policy".
The draft National Water Policy 2017 prepared by Ministry of Water Resources provides "guidelines to the provinces to develop their water policies and strategies for sustainable development and management of water resources". However, the draft lacks any kind of quantification of Pakistan''s water resources, projected demand supply gaps, futuristic water requirement and distribution, financing needs, and mechanisms and provincial role in water governance in post 18th Constitutional Amendments scenario.
According to Sartaj Aziz, a serious deficiency in the draft policy is the absence of targets and investment plans. In its present form, the policy does not present any estimates of financial requirements for achieving the minimum necessary targets at the Federal and Provincial levels. Draft policy does not consider floods as a concern. Besides; draft highlights several usages of water but ignores the new usage areas like coal mining in Sindh.
Sartaj Aziz further maintained that the modern day management of water resources requires highest level of skill and knowledge in the wake of a hovering water crisis. The current draft of water policy is totally silent about this dimension. In fact, the real challenge is not just listing "what" needs to be done, because that is well known, but "how" to do it and "who" will do it with a clear time line.
Sartaj Aziz further stated that highly varied figures have been quoted about access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The water policy should mention the baseline and set targets as to how much this access will be increased in short and medium term.
He maintained that the draft policy ignores several important areas such as rainfed agriculture, and spate irrigation which accounts for 65% in arid to semi arid landmass of the country. Pakistan has adopted Sustainable Development Goals as national development agenda of Pakistan. SDGs address the basic human right safe water and decent sanitation. The draft policy does not mention these targets.
Sartaj Aziz convener committee on National Water Policy stated that a more detailed draft policy can be prepared in the light of comments and guidance provided by the committee on this outline.
Considering the controversies that blocked the final approval of a National Water Policy in 2005-08, and specially after the passage of the 18th Constitutional amendment, Sartaj Aziz has submitted the following outlines for the policy: (i) National Water Policy should lay down a broad policy framework and set of principles for water security on the basis of which the Provincial Governments can formulate their respective Master Plans and projects for water conservation, water development and water management; (ii) major national targets for the water sector including those for water conservation, water storage, irrigation, water treatment and drinking water. These targets can be firmed up in consultation with the Provincial Governments and reviewed periodically for inclusion in the 12th and 13th Five Year Plans; (iii) National Water Policy should lay down appropriate pricing mechanism to at least recover the O&M cost so that national water assets could be maintained in future. And attract private equity under PPP-framework through Viability Gap Finance (VGF) arrangements. This will reduce the reliance on national exchequer; (iv) an estimate of the investments required for achieving the proposed national targets, its tentative breakdown between Federal and Provincial PSDP and identification of more innovative modes of financing, which can attract more private investments in the water sector; and (v) institutional deficiencies for project management and cost effective project implementation in the water sector have to be addressed on a war footing to revive the technical capacity and efficiency of the system that achieved such remarkable progress in this sector between 1950 and 1990.