PESHAWAR: The Water Resource Commission formally started functioning in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with its first meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Wednesday.
The commission would take policy decisions for conserving, redistributing and augmenting water resources in KP, allocating water resources for different purposes and securing the proper use of water resources. The commission will meet at least once in six months.
KP has become the first province to have its Water Resources Commission. The 21-member commission has been constituted under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Water Act 2020, and is headed by the chief minister. Other members of the commission include provincial ministers, chief secretary, administrative secretaries and experts from private sector.
The first meeting of the commission coincided with World Water Week 2021. Briefing the meeting about different aspects of Water Resources Commission, it was shared that the Water Regulatory Authority has been established for the implementation of policy decisions of the commission and to regulate all the matters related to water resources. The Authority will work as working group of the commission’s for policy formulation.
The KP government has designed an Integrated Water Resource Management Plan which focuses on social, economic, environmental and technical aspects regarding management of water resources. Similarly, Rivers Protection Act has been enacted to protect the water resources from pollution.
The forum was informed that framing of bylaws and regulations under Water Act, 2020 was underway and amendments have been made in the Rules of Business of all the departments concerned to identify and assign responsibilities to relevant departments with regard to better and efficient management of water resources.
The meeting also was briefed on current situation of water in the province, climate change, importance of water resources in socio-economic development and other matters related to Water Commission.
Chief Minister Mahmood Khan termed the constitution of Water Resources Commission a major achievement of the provincial government, and said the provincial government has taken yet another lead towards good governance strategy. He said the commission would prove a milestone in the preservation of water resources in accordance with the National Water Policy. He said preservation and efficient management of water resources was among top priorities of his government.
