Water planning, management under FNDP

By Pelekelo Liswaniso

IT WAS probably one of the most highly profiled gatherings in the water sector in recent years because it constituted some of the best brains Zambia has ever produced in academia, economics, finance, planning and other disciplines.

This was the just ended National Workshop for Directors of Water-Related Government Ministries and Heads of Planning, which took place at Mukuba Hotel in Ndola early this month.

Delegates were all directors drawn from various ministries and government departments across the country with the common purpose of raising the agenda of water and sanitation in the process of implementing the 5th National Development Plan (FNDP).

Finance Minister, Ng’andu Magande presented the document to President Mwanawasa a few days ago at Lusaka’s Mulungushi International conference centre.

The directors’ workshop was organised under the auspices of the Zambia Water Partnership (ZWP) in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and National Planning.

ZWP is part of a regional network of the Global Water Partnership (GWP- Southern Africa) that collaborates closely with both the SADC Water Division at the regional level and government departments in many SADC members states to promote and influence Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

After four days of brain-storming and planning by some of the country’s think –tanks, it was resolved that water and sanitation were a key strategy in fighting poverty and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions.

The MDGs have galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. They promote maternal health, gender equality and aim at combating child mortality, promoting environmental sustainability and developing a global partnership for development.

Director of Planning in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Benny Chuundu, announced at the close of the workshop that the delegates agreed that the current efforts in water resources management were disjointed and fragmented.

It was therefore crucial that the various stakeholders should address poverty and attain the MDGs by applying the principles of IWRM.

IWRM is a process, which promotes the coordinated development and management of water and land resources to maximize the resultant economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

Mr. Chuundu who was speaking on behalf of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, Buleti Nsemukila, who had earlier officially opened the workshop, said the challenge now was to implement the IWRM plan with concrete activities that are measurable.

Zambia, he said, was endowed with abundant water resources but that the country suffers from low levels of water utilisation and development and it was a shame that the country was still wallowing in poverty.

“There is need for increased water use and development imperatives for economic and social development,” Mr Chuundu said.

Earlier, in his opening remarks, Dr Nsemukila outlined how Government initiated the water sector reforms in 1994 with the launch of a forward looking water policy, and also begun comprehensive water resources reforms in 2000 under the Water Resources Action Programme (WRAP).

The reforms have targeted the legislative and institutional frameworks in order to enable the Ministry of Energy and Water Development manage the country’s water resources more efficiently and effectively.

Dr Nsemukila said now that the FNDP has been finalised and approved, it would require considerable resources to implement. Within the water related sectors, it has long been recognized that IWRM is the approach for intersectoral coordination.

“There will be need to have an integrated and coordinated implementation framework among sectors to avoid duplication and overlap and achieve maximum impact, he said.

The FNDP shows that the lists of development programmes are sectoral with each sector outlining its implementation mechanism.

Dr Nsemukila said his ministry has water and sanitation as one of the priority sectors in the FNDP.

“As the common adage Water is life proclaims, social and economic development cannot progress without a well developed and managed water sector, ”he said.

Dr Nsemukila observed that managing water is cross-sectoral with various institutions undertaking various interventions, adding that water in its natural state is “one resource” and knows no division and that this makes managing water complex.

To accelerate implementation of the IWRM and the Water Efficiency Plan in the FNDP, the directors agreed that sector consultations across provinces be arranged with the Water Sector Advisory Groups (WSAG), technical working groups including the health sector.

It was agreed that a national workshop to sensitize permanent secretaries in ministries with functions related to water provision should also be arranged soon and that all directors engaged in planning should monitor and evaluate the various national activities to ensure that water and sanitation were given priority.

Former Director of Planning and Economic Management, James Mulungushi, also agreed that implementation of the FNDP will require substantial resources.

Mr Mulungushi noted that a number of priority programmes have also been identified in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2007-2009 relating to Water Resources Management, Water Supply and Sanitation as well as irrigation for development.

He said the Ministry of Finance and National Planning was pleased to be associated with the directors’ meeting on water and sanitation as it marks the beginning of a coordinated effort to implement objectives of the FNDP.

He observed that expectations from the FNDP were high partly because the consultative process has been extensive and many people feel a degree of ownership.

Mr Mulungushi, who has just been appointed permanent secretary by President Mwanawasa for the newly created Planning and Economic Division, will be responsible for strategic planning of Zambia’s development.

“We have consulted so much, that surely the possibility of failure to capture significant ideas that are fundamental towards the development of our country cannot be a possibility. In addition to the process, we should all be expectant of this plan because the economic environment upon which is to be delivered, is a positive one,” Mr. Mulungushi said.

Mr Mulungushi said this year’s policy framework aims at enhancing rural development, especially agriculture, strengthening the linkages between the resource sectors with manufacturing, fostering a competitive and outward-oriented economy and improving infrastructure and social delivery including water.

The economic performance of Zambia has shown considerable improvements in the last few years, he said. Real Gross Domestic Product growth has averaged 4.7 per cent between 2002 to 2005 as opposed to an average of 2.2 per cent in the previous four years.

“Greater growth was actually experienced in 2005, at 5.1 percent compared to the 5.4 per cent of 2004. For the same period, per capita income grew at 2.3 per cent annually, as opposed to the declining trend of the 1990s,”

The overall inflation and interest rates during the period 2002 to 2006, he said also assumed a declining trend.

“Inflation was at 8.2 in 2006. Interest rates too, have exhibited a downward trend, as a result of the vigorously pursued government policy to reduce government borrowing,” he said.

Furthermore, Zambia has benefited from debt relief under the heavily indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). Due to this initiative and government’s timely debt service payments, Zambia’s debt stock has significantly reduced.

At the end of 2006, data indicated that Zambia’s external debt stock stood at US $500 million as opposed to the US $7.1 billion at the of 2004.

An elated Mr. Mulungushi said the implications of these write-offs are tremendous because Zambia will be saving annually an estimated US $180 million or K600 billion in debt service.

Clearly this is a significant amount of resources, which can be channeled towards reaching some of the Millennium Development Goals.

Government is therefore determined to focus its policies and programmes, through the FNDP in order to take opportunity of this generous external debt service scheme,”

In order to enhance the implementation of the FNDP, Mr. Mulungushi said government is implementing public sector reforms such as through the Public Sector Reform Programme covering Public Expenditure Management and Financial Accounting Reforms (PEMFA).

Components of PEMFA include the development of Integrated financial management and Information System (IFMIS) and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework designed in order to improve accountability, transparency and management of public resources.

“As we move forward, it is absolutely important that we do not reduce the significance of these reforms, which promote greater efficiencies and effectiveness,” he said.

The macro economic framework for 2007, he said, include accelerating pro poor growth, stabilise inflation to single digit, achieve exchange rate stability while the macro economic targets include achieving real GDP growth of 6 per cent, achieving inflation of less than 5 per cent, limiting domestic borrowing to 1.3 per cent and achieve the official gross international reserves to 2 months of imports.

Indeed, if water and sanitation are prioritized in the framework, there is no doubt that Zambia is heading for a turn around and a definite improvement in the lives of the people.