A modern and scientific water and sanitation system is being launched in the provincial metropolis from today (Thursday). Under the new system in all those areas facing the problem of acute water shortage not only new, but, all outdated tube-wells will also be modernised and linked with an automatic operating system.
In this connection, a high-level meeting was held here in the Civil Secretariat with Senior Minister Bashir Ahmad Bilour in the chair. Besides, Project Director, Riaz Ahmad, representatives of USAID, TMA officials and notables of some union councils concerned attended.
The United States funded project will be launched in the name of the Municipal Services Development Program (MSDP) and initially will be started from four union councils of Town-I including, Bhana Mari, Asiya, Kakshal-I and II and will be extended to the whole city phase-wise.
The scheme will resolve complaints regarding the grievances caused due to load shedding and low-voltage to tube-wells and all outdated water supply pipes will be replaced and human sweepers will be replaced with mechanical sweepers, which beside roads and bazaars will also sweep streets. Small and big Suzuki vehicles will be provided for disposing of waste while all open drains will be covered.
Under the program, all three big treatment plants will be reactivated to recycle the dirty water and prevent polluting the water of nearby flowing rivers of Peshawar city. Speaking on the occasion, Senior Minister, Bashir Ahmad Bilour, who also holds the portfolio of local bodies and urban development termed beginning work on the improvement of municipal services in the province in general and in Peshawar city in particular a very good omen, which he said was a longstanding demand of the people.
The Project Director told the meeting that on the directives of the senior minister they had not only conducted a detailed survey on the prevailing municipal services in Peshawar, but in TMAs of all big cities of the province and immediate remedy would be worked out in this regard. He said that work on the installation of new tube-wells in the areas facing water scarcity will be initiated while in the next phase work on sanitation facilities will be started on emergency basis.
The senior minister was told that under this foreign funded project a fund of Rs 8 billion had been allocated for provision of municipal services in big cities of the province. Out of the total amount an amount of Rs 3 billion will be utilised on the replacement of old water pipes and Rs 3 billion on purchase of new machinery and remaining amount on bringing improvement in the standard of municipal services.
The project director said that the staff of the project had reached the four concerned union councils of the city and the new system for provision of clean drinking water and health and cleanliness was being started. He said that out of the total 8 mechanical sweepers, four will arrive in the next few weeks, which besides replacing hundreds of sweepers will also improve the cleanliness system in the city.
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