Using their last option, the donors have asked the International Hydraulic Research Institute (IHRI) to assess all existing water-related subsectors of Punjab as the government could not able to implement institutional transformation to achieve water and food security of the province besides delays in approving the new water resources department (WRD), it is learnt.
The documents collected by Pakistan Today indicate that donors had been insisting to make research and development infrastructure and hydraulic research upgradation, however, they had left with no option but to initiate Rs 262.63 million programme. ‘Institutional Transformation of the Punjab Irrigation Department to a Water Resources Department’, is going to be initiated while engaging 317 experts including 66 international, 109 national and 142 counterpart.
The documents show that the Punjab government could not move an inch forward in developing Punjab’s water vision and medium-term development, which stayed an unfulfilled commitment on the Punjab government’s side before taking water sector loans. Besides, an investment plan, development of organisational structure and functions, and legislative requirements for new WRD were also committed by the government.
The documents indicate that departments in Punjab water sector would have been made open right from Punjab Irrigation Department (PID), Irrigation Research Institute, flood and flow forecasting, strategic planning, and capacity building needs of the province.
Talking about the development of International Hydraulic Research Institute, the sources in Irrigation Department told that IHRI would now identify gaps and constraints and future challenges particularly in hydraulic research, and groundwater and drainage. They said that the IHRI would also recommend technical, institutional and policy options and capacity building for research in scale and mathematical modeling.
They said that the IHRI would also review and asset management of river basins, water demand and supply, and cost-recovery mechanisms besides the assessment needs (capacity building and research). The development of technical, institutional and policy option models for river basins, flood, irrigation, drainage, groundwater and marginal-quality water, and conduct pilot tests of their structure and functions would also be assessed.
The programme documents laid down the need for 12 international management consultants for river basin specialist and team leader for a year and 10 specialists for river basin planning. The specialists will develop technical, institutional, and policy options; (ii) prepare an integrated river basin planning framework; (iii) conduct sector analysis; (iv) develop Punjab’s water vision 2030; and (v) coordinate the firm’s collective inputs and outputs. The specialists will also provide all the necessary help to develop a WRIS.
The programme requires 6 international flood risk management specialists, 12 national river engineers for a year to work for the programme to study flood flow modeling. The specialists will review flood risk management-related technical, institutional, and policy options; (ii) develop a framework for flood risk reduction in basins at the provincial level; (iii) set up a flow and flood forecasting model for one river basin; and (iv) recommend best technical, institutional, and policy options for flood risk management, including needed cultural and social changes.
Irrigation water management and reform need 6 specialists for 10 months who will review ongoing reforms, and (ii) advise an appropriate mechanism for improved irrigation service delivery and needed cultural changes.
Drainage assessment and management needs 4 specialists to review the efficiency and effectiveness of the provincial drainage system and will provide advice on sustainable solutions, including policy and institutions, within the prevailing cultural context.
Groundwater and drought management would need 6 international specialists to review current groundwater use practices, develop a groundwater modeling and sustainable use management framework; besides recommending best technical, institutional, and policy options, including planning, designing, monitoring, and evaluation in the prevailing cultural context. Similarly, 4 local specialists would be required for spate (hill torrents) irrigation to review hill torrent spate irrigation; and would recommend best technical, institutional, and policy options and climate change adaptation measures in the prevailing cultural context and 4 international modeling specialist will set up a modeling unit in the PID and would develop a pilot flow and flood simulation model for Chenab River Basin, and (iii) provide on-the-job training to PID staff.