ISLAMABAD: The Japanese government has gifted Abbottabad district with a water supply system built with the grant assistance through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
"The Project for Improvement of Water Supply System in Abbottabad", intends to mitigate the shortage in water supply capacity, to improve the water supply coverage ratio and to improve the living environment in Abbottabad city and surrounding area, with a grant of approximately 40 million US dollars.
Within the overall goal, the project objective is to increase the population served to 216,400 in 2015, from 113,900 in 2009.
This is equivalent to increasing the coverage ratio from 57% to 92% by developing the surface water system in addition to the present ground water system, said a press release issued here on Thursday.
Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, Hiroshi Inomata, while speaking at the handing over ceremony, said that Japanese advanced technologies in water sector are contributing to improving access to safe water and sanitation for people in Abbottabad.
Emphasizing the importance of Abbottabad city as an advanced model for utilization of surface water in this country, he hoped that all facilities installed under Japan's project would be fully utilized in a sustainable manner and the expertise and experience gained will be used for the benefit of people in Pakistan.
Chief Representative of JICA, Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki, while commenting on the importance of the project said, "Under the gravity surface water supply scheme which has been introduced by the Project, electricity is not required because this scheme fully utilize the force of gravity for transmission and distribution of water.
In addition to that, slow sand filter water treatment plant also consume no electricity. Since 70% of Japanese land is mountain area, Japan has utilized these technologies from more than 100 years ago.
I believe these less power-consumed technologies are appropriate for the hilly area and expect this approach will be disseminated to other hilly area in Pakistan for sustainable development".
It may be mentioned here that Japan has been supporting Pakistan to develop stable and safe water supply system especially in urban area such as Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujranwala, which are now witnessing drastic population increase.
Currently, more than three million people are benefiting from the clean drinking water projects, and sewerage and drainage projects initiated by Japan so far.
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