ISLAMABAD: In order for Pakistan to tackle the upcoming disastrous future regarding the water situation, the country will have to change its water usage habits and planning mechanisms, the Senate was told on Wednesday.
This was said during a detailed briefing by Lt (r) Gen Muzammil Hussain to a Senate body. He said that Pakistan will have to develop multiple storages and make the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty part of an aggressive foreign policy if the country wants to resolve the water problems.
On this occasion, the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) chairman also criticised the resettlement plan for the Diamer-Bhasha dam prepared by the government led by Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2006 and said that it was causing problems to this day.
The Wapda chief also proposed to give its operations and management to Sindh given the province’s genuine concerns that it would dry out. He also said that the country should now move on from decades-old planning processes, time-consuming approval processes and execution of projects through innovative financing solutions for major development projects.
Lamenting that Pakistan had become hostage to a group of five international consulting firms, Hussain said a professional organisation like the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak) had been reduced to a parking place with more than 921 incompetent and unqualified inductions made on political grounds.
