Chairman of National Business Group Pakistan, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum, and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said proper funds should be allocated in the upcoming budget to ensure water security which is essential for food security.
He said that the struggle between provinces for water has intensified, which should be resolved through proper intervention while wastage should be controlled as mismanagement in the water sector is resulting in a loss of twelve billion dollars per annum, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that water availability is not as serious as its mismanagement and wastage while resources are under pressure due to increasing population, climate change, and rapid urbanization.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that water availability and conservation would also improve agriculture, reduce prices, and provide some relief to the people.
He said that the agriculture sector consumes 95 percent of the available water while the masses and the industrial sector consume five percent of the water.
Millions are without clean drinking water, but abundant water is being provided to influential landlords while many poor farmers are ignored, he added.
He informed that 80 percent of the available water is consumed by wheat, rice, sugarcane, and cotton crop having a small share in the GDP while mismanagement in the water sector is resulting in an annual loss of 12 billion dollars.
Masses and the industrial sector is facing water shortages in Karachi, and some areas of Sindh have witnessed a reduction in water 80 percent over the last eight years resulting in perpetual crisis and sea intrusion leaving fertile lands barren and planters jobless.
He said that many countries have tensions like that between Pakistan and India, but they have resolved their water issues; while there are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, but they have also sorted out the water distribution mechanism, which should be a lesson for our policymakers.