Do we have to separate water from agriculture and appoint a new minister to head a new ministry to realize the dangers to the country’s already scarce water resources? This looming threat is the direct result of wrong policies that allowed the growing of crops that consume large quantities of water. The losses resulting from such an agricultural policy far outweigh any benefits.

It took all these years for the Ministries of Water and Agriculture to reach the strategic decision of suspending the cultivation of water-consuming crops such as barley and fodder. Grain silos have been notified that the coming season will be the last time they receive barley from local farmers. As for wheat, it was decided that the maximum quantity that silos are allowed to take from local farmers should be two million tons to meet local consumption. Wheat exports have now stopped.

Has the ministry not been aware all these years that the Kingdom is a desert country with little rainfall, and that it may fail to rain for years? Why has the ministry spent all these years hailing and praising and waving the banner of self-sufficiency while at the same time the Kingdom became an exporter of wheat, barley and other water-consuming crops?

That policy only benefited the middlemen, who had their pockets stuffed full of cash at a time when the state treasury was sustaining losses amounting to billions of dollars, all spent on encouraging the growing and export of wheat and barley. The loss was not only financial — the greater damage was done to underground water resources. That loss may never be recovered, and we need to spend billions of dollars on alternative sources like desalination.

The officials should long ago have arrived at the conclusion it only reached just now, but it took two ministries to do so. A little calculation would have saved many mistakes.

Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, the minister of water and electricity, was right to complain of the poor response consumers gave to a proposal by his ministry to issue a single bill for water and electricity. The response was predictable; people are not used to government agencies asking their opinion on the services they provide to them. Regardless of the response, the minister should be commended for taking such a bold step and allowing people to share the responsibility by helping the ministry plan and take decisions that reflect the public interest.

Because of the importance of water and electricity in today’s world, the unification of the bill will benefit both the ministry and the consumer. That is of course as long as no hikes are introduced on the pretext of making people rationalize their consumption. Consumers are already saddled with other bills — telephone, petrol, rent, school fees — while the wages of government employees have remained frozen for more than two decades and private sector wages are low by Saudi standards, not to mention widespread unemployment among the young.

I wish the ministry would undertake a study aimed at encouraging consumers to rationalize consumption in a manner that will not affect their ability to meet their other financial obligations. The study should define a system whereby those who pay their bills within a fixed period of time, say one week, are rewarded with a discount. Such a system would allow utility companies to collect enough money to spend on expanding and improving the service.

Unfortunately, things may not go as we wish. I already know that some experts and consultants will resist any such drive and insist on punishing all those who fail to settle their bills on time, including disconnecting the service immediately. They should realize that you need not resort to threats to make people pay their dues.

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(Muhammad Al-Shibani is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah.)

Arab News Features 18 July 2003