Book On Water Profile Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Launched

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Jan, 2022 ) :A book written by 21 researchers on water profile of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was launched at a local hotel here Monday. Shah Mahmood Khan, Secretary P&D was the chief guest and Ambassador of Switzerland to Pakistan, Mr. Benedict de Cerjat attended the ceremony as special guest.

The book titled "Water Profile of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Resources, Uses, Governance, Challenges" is published by a Swiss organization Helvetas in collaboration with a number of researchers from government, research institutions and universities.

The book has comprehensive analysis of water resources of KP including, supply, demand, uses, governance and water management challenges. The book is considered a landmark study written by 21 authors and edited by Dr. Arjumand Nizami and Dr. Jawad Ali of Helvetas.

Addressing the ceremony, Dr. Arjumand Nizami, Country Director Helvetas presented said that the main contents of the book are, water resources available in KP, water governance, climate change and impact on water; role of forests in regulating water flow; domestic use of water and sanitation; agriculture needs of irrigation water, demand and supply of private and domestic sectors, hydropower potential and progress, water pricing and water policies of KP.

Dr. Arjumand thanked all the contributors of the book, the Government of KP and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) for their support in writing and publishing the book.

Copies of the book signed by his Excellency, Mr. Benedict and Mr. Shah Mehmood Khan were distributed among the editors and the authors.

Addressing the participants, Swiss Ambassador Mr. Benedict said that, it was a great pleasure for him to attend the ceremony and said, Pakistan is a beautiful country and has lot of potential to develop water resources.

Referring to his recent visit to Swat and Chitral, he said that KP has ample water resources and landscape. He further expressed that SDC contributed to the Integrated Water Management Strategy of the KP province approved by the Chief Minister in February 2020 and in publishing the book. The Swiss Government has a long association with the Government of Pakistan and people of KP and has contributed to several development projects in the province, he added. The Swiss envoy appreciated Government of KP for supporting development projects for the betterment of the people of the province.

Appraising usefulness of the book, the Swiss Ambassador said that he read several chapters and found the information very useful and a great source of information related to water use and development in the province.

Addressing the participants, Shah Mahmood Khan described the background of the book and said that the book is mainly a by-product of the IWRM strategy of the KP.

He said that for the IWRM strategy 14 sub-sectors reports were produced. The authors have incorporated this information in the book in addition to new and very useful information, he expressed.

Shah Mahmood congratulated the authors for their great work and said that the book was equally useful for practitioners and researchers especially for the PhD students who are working on water resources.

He said that the information in the book is very useful for the government for managing water resources. He assured support of the government for implementation of development projects in the province.

The graceful ceremony was attended by the editors, authors and sixty other participants from various universities, the government and development sector.