decisionmaking power related to river basin management is still centralised and largely topdown and river basin councils lack the necessary legal planning capacity regulatory and financing powers to carry out their functions regional water programmes designed as a followup to the water agenda are a step in the right direction but they are at present more infrastructuredriven project portfolios than effective basin plans as implemented in other oecd and nonoecd countries this would help achieve convergence of public policies across the three levels of government coresponsibility in decision making transparency and consensus across all actors working toward the common goal of protection and sustainable use of water resources