World Bank approves over $440m for water and sanitation services in Punjab
The World Bank has approved $442 million for a project named ‘Punjab Rural Sustainable water system and Sanitation Project’ which will help in improving access to water and sanitation services for the foremost vulnerable population living in rural areas of Punjab.
Under this project, 16 districts are going to be covered with 50 per cent of districts drawn from South Punjab, and 25 per cent from central and north Punjab. The project will provide benefit to 2,000 villages and over six million people in rural areas.
Aside from that, through this project training of village councils and community caretakers are going to be provided, which can have complementary responsibilities for operations and maintenance, monitoring and evaluation and customer service.Moreover, water system and sanitation infrastructure also will be upgraded, along side services which will ensure equitable and sustainable access to beverage and safe wastewater management.
The main focus of the project is rural settlements, where water contamination and poor sanitation practices are being widely followed. These practices are causing high levels of illness and child stunting, the planet Bank said during a statement.
On approval of the project by the board of executive directors on Friday, the planet Bank Country Director for Pakistan, Najy Benhassine, said, “The bank is committed to the govt in improving sustainable water resource management. This project will support investments that increase climate resilience, including flood protection, rainwater harvesting and conservation in these districts”.
“Child stunting is endemic and an enormous constraint on Pakistan’s potential,” said Ghazala Mansuri, co-Task Team Leader for the project.
“It impacts a child’s cognitive development and system , reducing educational attainment, making illness more likely, and resulting in lower productivity and income. This project would offer the template for a transformational shift in human capital accumulation since it addresses all the determinants of stunting,” she said.
As per Public Health Engineering Department, as of August 2019, out of a complete of 5,137 rural water system schemes created through public programmes, around 1,784 were found to be dysfunctional. While majority of the operational ones aren’t performing as per their design parameters, providing unsafe and intermittent water system .