Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jahangir Khan Tareen has said that "Clean Drinking Water for All" (CDWA) project will be implemented with effective mechanism and strict monitoring.
He was speaking at the consultative workshop on "Clean Drinking Water Initiative" project held with district Nazimeen and district co-ordination officers here on Saturday.
The minister said, besides overlooking the previous project "Clean Drinking Water Initiative" (CDWI) which is under progress, the government is all set to achieve the target of providing clean water to its whole population through another project "Clean Drinking Water for All (CDWA)."
He said, "Government is committed to improve the health conditions of its population through effective measures, one such is through provision of clean drinking water."
"To achieve the set target, the ministry will fulfil the visions and desires of Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz aimed at provision of better health to the whole population," he added. Tareen said, under the project 6,035 water purification plants, one each at Union Council of Pakistan by 31 December 2007 will be installed.
He also directed the concerned authorities to make the non-operational water purification plants installed under the previous CDWI project operational by November 20. Giving the details about the both projects, the Project Director Brigadier Sikandar Javaid said under the earlier project of CDWI approved on 2004, 544 water purification plants with a capacity of 2,000 gallons per hour at each district and tehsil of the country were to be installed at the cost of Rs 495.50 million.
He said, among them so far 311 WPPs have been installed, 100 were under construction. About 153 plants have been operational, 158 were non-operational due to non-existence of different utilities while on 114 sites filtration plants are not required, he said.
Project Director said, under second project namely CDWA, which was approved on April 2006, 6,035 water purification plants, one each at every union council of the country will be installed by December 31, next year.
This project will cost Rs 7871.740 million, he said. "Out of total 6,035 water purification plants to be installed under 'Clean Drinking Water for All' (CDWA) project, we have received 5,311 proposed sites from the concerned authorities so far," he further elaborated.
Chairman Pakistan Council for Research and Water Resources (PCRWR) Dr Akram Kahloon briefed the participants about the results and survey conducted on water resources in different districts of the country. He said, about 40 percent of diseases in Pakistan are waterborne while 3 million infections per annum are directly related to contaminated water.
District Nazimeen and DCOs from different districts presented their suggestions regarding close co-ordination and co-operation among various stakeholders and active anticipation at the grassroots level.