Hamidullah Jan Afridi, Minister for Environment has said that Pakistan is ahead of goals set by South Asian countries with regards to sanitation. Talking to APP on arrival here, he said out of 500 villages, Pakistan has improved sanitation conditions in 450 villages with the participation of local community.
The minister is here at the head of a delegation to attend a South Asian Conference on Sanitation (Sacosan) being attended by ministers from Saarc region. Earlier, conference was held in Pakistan in 2006 and now the chair will be handed over to host country India for the next two years.
He said environment issues have attained utmost importance in the world and Pakistan has taken concrete steps to improve environmental conditions in the country. He said 2008 has been declared as Sanitation year in the world, adding that Pakistan is moving fast on improving sanitation conditions as Pakistan is suffering about Rs 112 billion loss every year on account of bad sanitation, resulting in health-related problems. The success story of Pakistan will be shared with other countries in the conference, Afridi added.