LAHORE: Serious structural issues in the water and sanitation sector are threatening of undermined progress following the deficit that has reached Rs159.7 billion within the past 4 years, Pakistan Today has learnt. “Institutional fragmentation, piecemeal and heavily politicised planning efforts with little cohesion, and heavy and misdirected subsidies are marking negative sustainability. Evidence indicates that the gains of the past decades are likely to be reversed, and targets will in fact not be met,” state the documents. Punjab budgetary analysis indicates that the capital expenditure (CAPEX) shortfall in the Urban Water Supply (UWS) has reached up to Rs99.5 billion and a shortage of Rs60.1772 billion has been recorded in the Rural Water Supply (RWS). Virtually hundred per cent of the urban sewage in Punjab remains untreated and is disposed of in Punjab’s rivers and groundwater on a daily basis.

Source: Pakistan Today April 03, 2018 16:28 UTC