REFORMS IN HUBEI PROVINCE, A SEMINAR ON EXCHANGING THE EXPERIENCE OF PIM IN CHINA

PROGRESS OF PIM IN CHINA

In 1992, the Chinese government set up an experimental pilot project in Hubei province to implement self-financing irrigation management. This project was supported by the World Bank. A seminar was held in December 1997 to sum up the experiences and to explore future options for irrigation reform.

Recently, the implementation of PIM programs in Hubei Province has been marked with increased activity. Pilot irrigation districts were set up in 1996 and the national seminar on PIM, held from December 15-17, 1997, centered on exchanging experiences on PIM in Hubei province. Additionally, two papers concerning self-financing irrigation districts in the Province have been published this year.

According to statistical data, in 1996 there were 601 irrigation districts with the area of 2.35 million ha. This consisted of five percent of the total irrigation area in China (including medium-large irrigation districts which are each more than 667 ha). In the last 40 years, investment in irrigation construction has come from the government and the labor has been drawn from local farmers. However, since the construction and management of the irrigation system have remained separate, farmers were not able to devote attention to engineering maintenance and management agencies have not invested in this maintenance. The aging of the structures is a serious problem that already reduces the benefits of irrigation.

PRACTICAL MODELS ON PIM

Models of PIM should relate closely to local economic reforms and productivity levels. Owing to the lower cultivated land per capita in China, many medium-large irrigation districts span several different townships which serve as independent economic units. In contrast, PIM has been implemented in township or village scale (about 667 ha), matching with the tertiary distribution canal or farm ditch of the irrigation districts. In Hubei province, 19 water Users Associations and 2 Water Supply for Irrigation Companies were established at the end of 1997. This is just the beginning of PIM in China.

Water Users Association for Farmers

The canals that cover an irrigation area also belong to a Water Users Association. There are comprised of several separate water users groups. The representatives and chief representatives are elected by farmers directly. The committee member and the Chairman of the Association are elected by secret ballot by all representatives. The Association is a body corporate and is in charge of irrigation management and services for individual farms.

Water Supply for Irrigation Company

The Water Supply for Irrigation Company is the existing irrigation management agency which has been transformed from an enterprise once supported by the government to a legally-independent agency. It operates as a liaison in the market economy for water supply to the Associations and groups. The company's self-financing comes from the following three channels: (a) raised water fee standards; (b) subsidies from local government budgets as a transit to self-financing in the early stages of reform; and (c) managing the ``not pay labor" account with money according to previous government law. These three measures will be implemented according each specific situation. In all medium or large irrigation districts, the government has improved the management and coordinating instruments for water users in the entire irrigation area. An NGO, ``The National Association of Irrigation Districts in China" was established in 1991, with a membership including over 100 medium-large irrigation districts. They organize an activity every year for the promotion of PIM and to advance the capability of irrigation districts in China to be self-financing.

The benefits of PIM

Seminar participants concluded that at the Hubei province pilot projects:

(a) the maintenance fee has been reduced while farmers pay more for irrigation engineering,

(b) procedures for collecting water charges have been simplified by assigning the responsibility to a single agency;

(c) the quality of irrigation service has been improved by making the labor for water supply more affordable; and

(d) the cost for irrigation has been reduced by raising the irrigation efficiency and the reducing the cost for management.

Some issues in implementing PIM

Three problems were found to exist in implementing PIM in Hubei Province by seminar participants:

(a)Transformed from an enterprise supported by government to a self-financed association that is independent of local administration, WUAs often found it difficult early on to implement democratic management.

(b)While water fees are critical for self-financing, they are also a key problem that concerns the price policy in all of China. Differences in cost in different areas within China suggest that some regulatory function by local governments could be useful in transition periods.

(c)Rebuilding and maintenance of existing irrigation engineering is the material base for implementing self-financing programs of PIM. In China, most irrigation districts built in the 1950s and 1960s by" mass movements" were of poor quality and often lack adequate canals connecting the main canal to the individual farm. Additionally, there are problems involving the aging of these works which, after 30-40 years of operation, have begun to deteriorate. According to statistical evidence in Hubei province, the budget needed for rehabilitation was three billion Yen, which exceeds the government's support capacity.

The Chinese government has recognized the importance of implementing PIM reforms throughout the country and has established a policy to support the PIM and self-financing irrigation districts step by step in the future. The Hubei province experience offers some examples of the opportunities and challenges of implementing PIM reforms.

By Qishun Zhang
Director,Academic Committee,
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR)
Vice President, International Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID)
Beijing, China, Headiwhr@public3.bta.net.cn