Governance and Civic Capacity for the Provision of Drinking Water in Urban Sindh, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59926/jodprp.vol05/06Keywords:
Water Governance, Climate Change, Community Participation, Public Policy, Public Financial Management, Co-ProductionAbstract
The purpose of this study is to analyse governance and civic capacity for service delivery in the drinking water sector in urban Sindh, Pakistan. The research was designed to systematically analyse the patterns of success and failure of drinking water initiatives in Hyderabad and Sukkur using qualitative methodology with Focus Group Discussion and interviews to understand the roles of collective action, partnerships, local experiences and cooperation alongside governmental and regulatory oversight related to drinking water. It highlights incentives for different actors involved in infrastructure development and maintenance, pricing and regulation. Case studies of collective action in the drinking water sector across Sindh have also been discussed. The main findings of the study are that piped drinking water quality remains poor in emerging cities like Hyderabad and Sukkur and citizen participation in water governance is very limited due to the obstructionist attitudes of local water management bureaucracy. Participatory approaches in governance can be used to harness action from the community in designing, planning and overseeing water service delivery. When used effectively, such models can help inform policymakers, improve knowledge about existing infrastructure, enhance access to information and reduce corruption.
The scope of this article is related to the following SDG / SDGs.
Downloads
Metrics
References
ADB 2004, Water in Asian Cities: Utilities’ Performance and Civil Society Views, Manila: Asian
Development Bank.
Ahmed, N. and Sohail, M. 2003, ‘Alternate Water Supply Arrangements in Peri-urban Localities: Awami (People’s) Tanks in Orangi Township, Karachi’, Environment and Urbanization, vol.15, no.2, pp.33-42.
Ali, Z. 2012, ‘Tainted Water Being Supplied in Hyderabad, Court Told’, The Express Tribune, 11 August, < tribune.com.pk/story/420941/tainted-water-beingsupplied-in-hyderabad-court-told>.
Ang, Y.Y. 2016, How China Escaped the Poverty Trap, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Arnstein, S.R. 1969, ‘A Ladder of Citizen Participation’, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 216-224, DOI: 10.1080/01944366908977225.
Azizullah, A., Khattak, M.N.K., Richter, P. and Häder, D.P. 2011, ‘Water Pollution in Pakistan and Its Impact on Public Health - A Review’, Environment International, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 479-497,
<https://europepmc.org/article/med/21087795>.
Burki, S. J. 2011, ‘Historical Trends in Pakistan’s Demographics and Population Policy’, In Reaping the Dividend: Overcoming Pakistan’s Demographic Challenges, Michael Kugelman and Robert M. Hathaway (eds.), Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center, pp. 56-75,
Glaeser, E.L. 2012, ‘The Challenge of Urban Policy’, Journal of Public Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 31, no. 1, Winter 2012, pp. 111-122, <https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pam.20631>.
Government of Sindh 2017, ‘Sindh Drinking Water Policy’,
<https://phenrd.sindh.gov.pk/elfinder/connector?_token=&cmd=file&target=fls2_ZGVwYXJ0bWVudHMvZHJpa2luZ3BvbGljeTIwMTcucGRm> [Accessed 10
July 2021].
Iftikhar, M.N., Ali, S. and Sarzynski, A. 2017, ‘Community-Government Partnership for Metered Clean Drinking Water: A Case Study of Bhalwal, Pakistan’, Climate Change in Cities, pp. 163-179, <https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3319-65003-6_9>.
Kornai, J., Maskin, E. and Roland, G. 2003, ‘Understanding the Soft Budget Constraint’, Journal of Economic Literature, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 1095-1136, DOI: 10.1257/jel.41.4.1095.
Ostrom, E. and Gardner, R. 1993, ‘Coping with Asymmetries in the Commons: Selfgoverning Irrigation Systems can Work’, The Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 93-112.
Pant, N. 2008, ‘Some Issues in Participatory Irrigation Management’, Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 30-36, <http://www.jstor.org/stable/40276442>.
PCRWR 2010, ‘Technical Assessment Survey Report of Water Supply Schemes’, Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources,
<http://www.pcrwr.gov.pk/Annual%20Reports/New%20Annual%20Repot%202 005-06_2.pdf> [Accessed 13 August 2021].
Sansom, K. 2006, ‘Government Engagement with Non‐state Providers of Water and Sanitation Services’, Public Administration and Development: The International Journal of Management Research and Practice, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 207-217.
Sarzynski A. 2015, ‘Public Participation, Civic Capacity, and Climate Change Adaptation in Cities’, Urban Climate, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 52-67,
<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212095515300158>.
Shar, A.H., Kazi, Y.F., Kanhar, N.A., Soomro, I.H., Zia, S.M. and Ghumro, P.B. 2010, ‘Drinking Water Quality, Rohri Pakistan’, African Journal of Biotechnology, vol. 9, no. 42, pp. 7102-7107, <https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJB/article-fulltext-pdf/B2F503A24086>.
Supreme Court 2017, ‘Report of Commission of Inquiry’, Supreme Court of Pakistan,
<http://scp.gov.pk/files/newspr/Enquiry_final_Report_06_03_2017.pdf> [Accessed 10 July 2021].
Tanzi, V. and Davoodi, H. 1998, ‘Corruption, Public Investment, and Growth’, In The Welfare State, Public Investment, and Growth, Hirofumi Shibata and Toshihiro Ihori (eds.), Tokyo: Springer, pp. 41-60, <https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-43167939-4_4> [Accessed 10 July 2021].
The World Bank 2017, ‘Sindh: Public Expenditure Review’, <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29264>.
The World Bank 2005, ‘Pakistan Country Water Assistance Strategy: Country Running Dry’, <https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/8343>.
Ysa, T. 2007, ‘Governance Forms in Urban Public-Private Partnerships’, International Public Management Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 35-57.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Maha Ahmad, Muhammad Naveed Iftikhar, Komal Shakeel, Khawer Hayat Cheema
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
