Ahsan calls for taking devolution to grassroots as benefits remain elusive after 15 years

ISLAMABAD, Sep 9 (APP):Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said the benefits of devolution had not reached the grassroots over the past 15 years, stressing the transfer of powers and resources to local governments for effective service delivery and development.

Addressing the national inception workshop and launch of the Technical Working Group on “Integrated Land & Water Use Planning,” he said devolution itself was not the problem, but its implementation had stopped at the provincial level.

“It is not that devolution was wrong; it should have been devolution. The whole world is being devolved,” the minister said, stressing that powers should also flow from provinces to district and municipal governments.

He said the 18th Amendment had devolved substantial responsibilities to the provinces in 2010, but local governments were not given corresponding powers and resources.

“If you give a local government a responsibility, but there is no power or resources behind that responsibility, then that responsibility becomes a burden,” he remarked.

Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan needed a development ecosystem based on effective coordination between the federation and provinces, coupled with empowered local institutions capable of translating national priorities into improved services and outcomes.

He said this was particularly important for agriculture, which remained a key driver of the national economy and a major source of livelihoods, food security and export potential.

Despite its agricultural resources, Pakistan had become a net agricultural importing country, importing around $4-5 billion worth of agricultural products annually, he noted.

The minister said the country needed to move from dependence on agricultural imports towards becoming a food-exporting economy by improving productivity and fully exploiting its land and water resources.

He cautioned that this objective could not be achieved without protecting productive farmland from unchecked urban expansion.

“Agriculture and food do not grow in the air. Agriculture and food grow on land,” he said, emphasizing the need to strike a balance between food production and the growing requirements of cities.

He said productive agricultural areas, including citrus orchards in Sargodha, mango orchards in Multan and areas producing high-quality basmati rice around Gujranwala, needed protection from unplanned urbanization.

“Productive farmland and urban growth needs to be harmonized,” Ahsan said, calling for evidence-based land-use planning and vertical rather than unchecked horizontal expansion of cities.

He said Pakistan’s rapidly growing population was adding pressure on food resources, while declining per-capita water availability had made water security an equally serious challenge.

The minister called for a coordinated national framework involving the federation and provinces to address food, land and water issues, saying fragmented efforts could not deliver sustainable results.

He also highlighted the need to regulate groundwater extraction, assess aquifers’ sustainable capacity, and promote groundwater recharge.

He viewed that solar-powered pumping had made groundwater extraction easier, making effective regulation increasingly important.

Ahsan Iqbal said the Integrated Land & Water Use Planning initiative would help develop an evidence-based framework to protect productive agricultural land, manage urban growth and secure Pakistan’s future food and water requirements.

He linked the initiative with the government’s 5Es framework, saying food and water security were essential components of a stable and sustainable high-growth economy.

Referring to the country’s broader development challenge, the minister said Pakistan had often demonstrated the ability to formulate ambitious plans but had struggled with implementation.

“The real thing is not that we do not know how to make plans. We can make very good plans, but our problem is to act on them,” he said.

He said Pakistan was now at an “inflexion point” and could not afford to repeat past mistakes, calling for collective action and effective implementation of development strategies.

“We can either swim or we can sink. There is no third option. Therefore, we have to swim,” he remarked.