Under the Clean and Green Pakistan Initiative launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan, PepsiCo is working to provide safe water to 140,000 people in the country by 2021 and a rehabilitated water filtration facility has been inaugurated on Friday.

Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal, Minister of Industries, Commerce and Investment Punjab, inaugurated a rehabilitated water filtration facility in Lahore.

According to an announcement of a leading beverage company here on Friday, the refurbishment was facilitated by the international non-governmental organization, WaterAid, with the financial support from global food and beverage company, PepsiCo. It is expected that 3,500 people from the Millat colony, Lahore will directly benefit from the new facility; an additional 5,000 people from the Gaus ul Alam colony in the Gulberg area of Lahore will also be benefited.

This is the first project implementation under PepsiCo's commitment to the Clean and Green Pakistan Initiative launched by the Prime Minister of Pakistan late last year. To support the 'access to safe water' pillar of the Clean and Green Pakistan Initiative, PepsiCo is working to provide safe water to 140,000 people in the country by 2021.

Speaking at the inauguration Minister of Industries, Commerce and Investment Punjab Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal said, "Water is essential for human survival and cannot be replaced. I appreciate this collaboration between PepsiCo and WaterAid in supporting the Punjab Government in ensuring access to safe water to marginalized communities in Lahore."

Furqan Ahmed Syed, CEO PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan said that access to safe water has remained a challenge for Pakistan. With our partners WaterAid, we are on a mission to enable access to safe water for underserved communities in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. This is in line with our global commitment to provide access to safe water to 22 million people by 2025.

Siddiq Khan, Country Representative, WaterAid Pakistan commented, "WaterAid Pakistan is committed to supporting Clean and Green Pakistan Initiative by the Government of Pakistan and are happy that through this collaboration we were able to reach vulnerable populations residing in the urban areas. PepsiCo and WaterAid Pakistan will continue to take initiative to provide access to safe water as part of the Clean Green Pakistan Initiative."

Increasing access to safe water for vulnerable individuals is one of the most urgent challenges the world faces. Addressing this challenge has long been a priority for PepsiCo. Through partnerships funded by The PepsiCo Foundation, the company's philanthropic arm, it has provided more than 22 million people in underserved communities around the world access to safe water since 2006. In the last year alone, PepsiCo and its partners expanded access for more than 6 million people, indicating the company is on track to exceed its goal to support a total of 25 million people with safe water access by 2025.