ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday emphasized following an integrated approach for conservation, storage, management and efficient utilization of available water resources.
The prime minister expressed these views while chairing the first meeting of the National Water Council (NWC) held here at PM Office.
Pointing out that no significant attention was paid to water-related issues in the past, he underscored the need for chalking out a comprehensive roadmap, in consultation with provinces and other stakeholders, for the implementation of National Water Policy (NWP).
He highlighted the issue of water scarcity to meet the growing demands of the increasing population of the country. He observed that the NWC would serve as an effective platform to discuss and develop consensus among the stakeholders on all issues pertaining to water resource management.
Secretary Water Resources Shamail Ahmad Khawaja briefed the meeting, in detail, about the contours of NWP and the strategic priorities set in the policy.
He also apprised the meeting about the existing water availability and the planned future investments especially towards the enhancement of the storage capacity.
Secretary Water Resources also presented various proposals regarding the implementation of National Water Policy.
WAPDA chairman briefed the meeting about the progress on various projects of water storage and power generation.
The prime minister directed that the proposals should be analyzed by the steering committee under the minister for water resources. The steering committee would submit its recommendations in two weeks’ time.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Asad Umar, Minister for Planning Khusro Bakhtiar, Minister for Power Omar Ayub, Minister for Water Resources, Faisal Vawda, Minister for National Food Security Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan, Advisor to PM Malik Amin Aslam, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister KP Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan, Chief Minister Gilgit Baltistan Hafiz Hafeez-ur-Rehman, Prime Minister AJK Raja M Farooq Haider Khan, provincial ministers, federal secretaries, chief scretaries, Chairman WAPDA and senior officials.
