Govt to Spend Rs. 5 Billion on Dam Projects in Balochistan in Next 3 Years

The Federal and Balochistan governments are embarking upon a three years strategy costing approximately Rs. 5 billion for Command Area Development (CAD) of 127,000 acres in the southern part of the province and the provincial government has been asked to approve the strategy in this regard by March 2022.

On January 18, 2022, Prime Minister had directed to develop a “Strategy for Command Area Development (CAD) of over 136,000 acres of land, under various projects, for exploiting the true potential of water projects presented separately,” according to official documents available with ProPakistani.

A draft strategy of CAD for Federally Funded Water Sector Projects in Southern Balochistan is being prepared by the Ministry of Water Resources in consultation with all the stakeholders. After finalization, the strategy will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval, and funding for CAD will be included in the federal PSDP 2022-23, the source said. Currently, 40 water sector projects funded by the federal government are being executed in Balochistan with an estimated cost of Rs. 273 billion and are at various phases of completion.

Now it is being planned with the federal funding of Rs. 3.679 billion, nine projects for the CAD of 108,930 acres will be completed in the next three years, starting from FY 2022-23 to FY 2025-26. Similarly with the Government of Balochistan funding of Rs. 926 million for 18,525 acres for Command Area Development under provincial-funded Water Sector Projects, will be completed during three years.

According to the draft strategy, the CAD projects will be executed in seven districts of Southern Balochistan where dams have already been constructed or are under construction. These districts have been further divided into three agro-ecological zones, which are sub-highland (900 to 1200 m above sea level), desert (700 to 900 m above sea level), and coastal (less than 100 m above sea level).

Projects are planned in such a way that larger command areas can be developed in the desert agro-climatic zone followed by the coastal and then the sub-highland zones, the documents reveal.

Under the strategy it has been proposed that Balochistan will develop/execute the following; Master plan for water conservation, water development and water management, water use efficiency and water productivity for irrigation and drinking purposes, rational water pricing, allocation of 5% of the current budget of Irrigation Department for operation and maintenance of irrigation infrastructure, licensing and regulation regime for groundwater and periodical inspection regime of existing irrigation infrastructure shall be put in place, and the existing inspection manual (if any) shall be updated.

For the provision of funds, the draft plan proposes that for at least five years after the completion of the CAD, input costs of farmers be covered through an endowment fund. In this reference, the proposal suggests microfinance institutions will provide interest-free loans, and a regulatory framework for financial assistance would be established.

Similarly, extension services and value-added services for food processing, cold storage, and marketing strategies for farmers have been proposed in the draft strategy.

According to the draft, the federal funds depend upon the provincial government’s releases, fulfilling other obligations, like regulatory framework and master plan for water conservation, etc. The Government of Balochistan must ensure the provision of funds as per financial phasing.

It has been proposed that performance agreements be signed by the Chief Executives of the Federal and the Provincial Government of Balochistan and the administrative heads of their respective executing agencies. It has been further proposed that the provincial Cabinet of Balochistan will approve this strategy for implementation by March 31, 2022