Tag Archives: Supreme Court of Pakistan

‘Leave no stone unturned for building Bhasha, Mohmand dams’

on 02/11/2018

CJ Water Conference’ calls for ensuring water rights in Pakistan. International Symposium on `Creating a water-secure Pakistan` has called upon the governments and institutions involved in decision-making and execution of dams to use traditional and non-traditional financing methods including inter alia direct investment, corporate finance, portfolio investment, bonds upfront tariff, crowdfunding and public-private partnership arrangements to meet the huge financial requirement for construction of water storage facilities in the country.

The communication issued by the organizers at the conclusion of the conference says: relying on the judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan passed in constitution petition No.57 of 2016 in which the federal and provincial government, Wapda and all executive authorities in Pakistan who are responsible or have nexus/connection with the building of the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams and all matters connected there to, were directed to take all necessary steps for the commencement of construction and early completion of these dams.

Deeply concerned that Pakistan is now facing water crises as per the national water policy of Pakistan, the country’s per capita surface water availability has declined from 5,260 cubic meters per year in 1951 to approximately 1,000 cubic meters in 2016. According to the world resources institute, says the declaration issued after water conference organized by The law & justice commission of Pakistan under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Pakistan is at number 23 out of the top 33 water-stressed countries in 2040;  Pakistan council of research in water resources has opined that Pakistan may run dry by 2025 if the present conditions continue.

The declaration further says as under:

Declaration

1. The potential of Pakistan’s part of the Indus basin has to be realized through priority actions that need to be taken on an immediate basis. Maintaining the integrity of the Indus basin is a serious and important responsibility of the federation as well as the provinces, including all other administrative units and above all, the people of Pakistan,

2. It is imperative for Pakistan to invest in supply augmentation (dams and reservoirs) and ensure better utilization of its groundwater, adopting appropriate  (water recycling, desalinization, and water harvesting) and manage consumption and use of water (controlling water demand and pricing) and do all of this under the principles of mutual trust and benefit sharing,

3. International water law should be taken advantage of by consistently putting forward Pakistan’s perspective before various international forums and Pakistan’s strategy regarding the implementation of the Indus Water Treaty and its interpretation should be reconsidered and reviewed to bolster Pakistan’s case,

4. The government must introduce water accounting based on modernized water data collection methods to assess, amongst other things, the water availability per capita, in order to build trust amongst the provinces regarding water apportionment, particularly considering the requirement of the Indus delta and lower riparian areas in Pakistan,

5. Effective salinity and sedimentation management techniques must be adopted to protect Pakistan’s agricultural land and the storage capacity of dams and reservoirs respectively,

6. Numerous small and large dams and reservoirs must be constructed on a priority basis. Fast-track feasibility and action is required on the part of the executive,

7. Innovative solutions regarding storage facilities for low gradient plains (flat areas, coastal areas, hard rock, barani areas and desert areas) must be adopted,

8. The Indus basin irrigation network has to be extended which would bring several million acres of land under irrigation, and design water allocation right down to the district level,

9. Various traditional and non-traditional financing method including inter alia direct investment, corporate finance, portfolio investment, bonds upfront tariff, crowdfunding and public-private partnership arrangements must be employed to meet the huge requirement.

Case Against Bahria Karachi completes;

on 24/06/2018

Have irrefutable evidence, claim investigators

Director General, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) , Altaf Bawany chaired a board meeting to review progress on an investigation against Bahria Town, MDA officials and other government functionaries.

The meeting was held in compliance with the directions of Chairman NAB Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal to expedite cases taken by Supreme Court of Pakistan, said a statement issued by NAB Karachi, here on May 30.

The investigation team apprised the board that the investigation  against Bahria Town was already completed and case was made out on the basis of allegedly irrefutable evidence about taking illegal possession of thousands of acres of valuable government land situated on main Super Highway (M9) in violation of Colonization of  Government Land Act 1912, MDA Act 1993 and Sindh Building Control Ordinance 1979.

The board was also apprised that a concise statement  was also submitted to Supreme Court of Pakistan highlighting facts regarding violation of laws and rules.

The review board appreciated the efforts of investigation team and concluded the case by engaging Survey of Pakistan, Ministry of Defence  for the demarcation of land under illegal possession of Bahria Town which established that Bahria Town was in possession of 12,156 acres, after which  Bahria Town was restrained by the Supreme Court from under taking further development.

Director General NAB Karachi issued the instructions to investigation team to engage with legal team for expediting queries  if any so that the deadline given by Supreme Court of Pakistan  is met well in time.

-MD/ PR

Sindh designs Rs.400 bn water, sewerage plan

on 29/01/2018

High-rise buildings get a conditional nod

The Sindh government has designed a Rs.400 billion worth program for provision of quality drinking water and to treat sewerage water before shoring up to the water bodies in the province.

The plan is an outcome of the pressure that came from the apex court hearing the petition on quality of drinking water in the province and also mixing of untreated hazardous water to the canal system and the sea. Apparently a robust program, which some may appreciate, is being termed as unrealistic even in the circles and some experts allege it is yet another effort to secure commission by officers who already ruined hundreds of water treatment schemes in the province.

A government officer who does not want to be named said there was no need to spend such a hefty sum of Rs.400 billion for that purpose as hundreds of schemes can be revived under operation and maintenance program—a head which has already sanctioned sums for spending. For instance, he revealed as many as 953 schemes stood closed in Public Health Engineering (PHE) Department whose total water related schemes numbered at 2300. These schemes does not include the ones in Karachi and Hyderabad.

Ironically, these 953 schemes all have infrastructure and other requisites available but remain non-functional due to bad governance. These schemes can easily be made functional rather than designing new ones, he claimed. Sindh has around 33 filter plants and of them 25 are closed. They can be revived rather than installing news ones.

An officer of a task force on water said there were 750 points all over the province where untreated and sewage water was being discharged into water bodies in Sindh. Of them, 300 points can be cured with Rs.700-800 million. This will address over 30 percent of the issue, he claims. If the government rehabilitates 4 major treatment plants which can be made functional with existing resources can resolve 50 percent of the issue, Shahab Usto who is the prime petitioner in the case says.

Looking at the hearings in the apex court, one can realize how this issue has transformed into one of major national issues. Never before this time has water quality been so ingrained into public consciousness in Pakistan especially in Sindh. Thus, this is for the very first time in the history that the Supreme Court of Pakistan has heard any issue on Sunday—the public holiday in Pakistan.

Usto said it is for the first time that all stakeholders are involved in the issue which encourages him that the issue would be resolved to a great extent.

High rise buildings Allowing construction of maximum six-storied buildings, the Supreme Court has strictly restrained the builders from raising more than six floors in any part of Karachi. The apex court bench, headed by the CJP and comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing a miscellaneous application of Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), requesting it to lift the ban on construction of high-rise buildings.

The apex court, while hearing the case pertaining to provision of pure drinking water and sanitation issues, in March 2017 had imposed a ban on construction of multi-storied building until the issues are resolved. ABAD in its application pleaded the court to lift its ban, maintaining that allotees of new projects were suffering as they could not be handed over possession of their flats or floors booked earlier. The lawyer, representing the builders’ association argued that there was no shortage of water in the city as the issue was only fair distribution.