Pakistan can store just 10% of the water flowing through the country’s rivers and the rest goes to waste, the minister for water resources told the National Assembly yesterday.
Detailing the storage capacity in the country, Syed Javed Ali Shah said that reservoirs could store just 14 MAF (million acre-foot), amounting to just 10% of annual river flows.
In response to a question raised by Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Shaikh Rohale Asghar, the minister said that in November last year, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) advisory committee had anticipated a water shortage of 36% for the Rabi Season (October 2017-March 2018).
Inaction regarding the building of new reservoirs, reduction in storage capacity of existing ones because of sedimentation, rapidity of climate change, and increase in population and water demand were cited as the main factors causing the water shortage in the country.
As of April 4, domestic water storage capacity was at its lowest: the available water storage capacity in the three main reservoirs was just 0.018 MAF compared with last year’s 0.506 MAF.
According to Shah, the country’s average storage capacity for the past five years was 1.421 MAF, and for the past 10 years, 0.58 MAF.
The minister said that the country is currently building 26 projects to preserve water flows.
The live storage capacity of these reservoirs would be 7.323277 MAF.
Shah said that the federal government is sponsoring a number of water sector projects, executed by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and provincial irrigation departments under the Public Sector Development Programme (PDSP).
Of these 26 projects, he said, only two would be completed during current fiscal year, while 13 are expected to be finished in the next fiscal year.
Six water reservoir projects are expected to be completed by 2020.
The remainder reservoirs would be completed beyond 2020, he said.
The Diamer-Basha dam, to be built on Indus River near Chilas, would have a storage capacity of up to 6.4 MAF.
This project is likely to be built by 2025-26.
According to the minister, 31,695 acres of land had so far been acquired out of a total of 37,419 acres.
Construction of infrastructure is in progress while work on the main dam has not started, he said.
Meanwhile, the government faced an embarrassing situation yesterday on account of the lack of quorum.
Right after the parliament session started, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker Khawaja Sohail Mansoor asked the Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to allow him to speak on a point of order.
When the chair suggested that the lawmaker defer his remarks until after the Question Hour, Mansoor insisted that he be allowed to do so because he wanted to speak about cases being probed against him by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
He threatened to disrupt the session if he was not allowed to speak on point of order.
When he was not given the floor, Mansoor pointed out the lack of quorum.
This led to a head count, and the proceedings were suspended subsequently.
When the session resumed, the quorum was again found to be lacking, and the session was adjourned until 11am.
The session was adjourned before it could take up any item on the agenda.
Earlier, members of the National Assembly offered prayers for three children killed in Indian shelling along the Working Boundary in Sialkot Sector.
The House also offered prayers for Pakistani student Sabika Sheikh, who was killed in the Texas school shooting incident last week.
GULF TIMES
