LAHORE : Punjab Caretaker Local Government Minister Ibrahim Murad has informed that the World Bank will provide soft loan of $442 million for executing projects for provision of basic amenities of life to the residents of 2,000 under-privileged villages in 16 districts of Punjab and work under this project has formally been launched in 200 villages as a pilot project.
The minister said that under this Punjab Rural Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Project, contracts for lying water supply and underground sewerage networks system besides construction of solid waste management infrastructure in 70 villages has been awarded so far while tenders have been invited for awarding contracts for another 70 villages for this purpose.
Projects for the remaining 60 villages are in the process of approval, the minister added. The villages being developed under this project were situated in the districts of Khushab, Mianwali, Sargodha, Chakwal, Bhakkar, Pakpattan, Chiniot, Jhang, Rajanpur, Rahimyar Khan, DG Khan, Lodhran, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar and Multan, said the minister.
The project was being implemented by the Local Government & Community Development Department, Government of Punjab, through its Punjab Rural Municipal Services Company (PRMSC), the minister said.
Earlier, talking to a representative delegation of the World Bank Mission Pakistan, which called on the minister, Ibrahim Murad said that clean drinking water, drainage and a clean environment were basic human requirements of every individual.
With the implementation of these projects, these villages will be transformed and the residents will benefit from the development. These project will help in reduction in the incidence of stunting among children aged 0–3 which had been estimated as 40 percent, the minister said.
He directed that monitoring of work on these projects should be improved and no compromise should be made on the quality of construction work. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to “Provide equitable and sustainable access to safely managed water and sanitation and reduce child stunting”. The Project has four components as briefly described below: Component 1: Water Supply and Sanitation Infrastructure Development Component 2: Behavior Change and Capacity Development Component 3: Service delivery Improvement Component 4: Project Management and Monitoring The Project will combine infrastructure investments with a comprehensive behavior change communication (BCC) campaign and improved service delivery to: (i)provide potable water through cost-effective and sustainable investments; (ii)provide safely managed sanitation facilities to reduce the total fecal burden in the village environment; and (iii) raise awareness and promote behavior change for better hygiene practices at the household and community level to promote health and ensure the sustainability and quality of the water source.
PDO Level Indicators include: (i) Number of beneficiaries provided safe drinking water in areas with high exposure to heat stress and water scarcity (6 million); (ii) Number of villages provided with wastewater treatment facilities that mitigate risk of fecal contamination of water resources in heat stressed and water-scarce areas by generating safe effluent (2000 villages); (iii) Percentage of households that have WHO quality drinking water at point-of-use (75 percent); (iv) Percentage of O&M costs covered through tariff collection (75 percent); (v) Reduction in the incidence of stunting among children aged 0–3 (40 percent).
The key implementation principles of this Project are: (i) a needs-based approach towards resource allocation and geographic targeting; (ii) protecting groundwater from over-abstraction and contamination to conserve it as a sustainable resource in the face of population growth and climate change; (iii) professional service delivery to underpin infrastructure investments, sustained primarily by cost-recovery from beneficiaries and backed by provincial budget allocations as needed; (iv) robust community participation in all aspects of project implementation with a strong focus on women; and (v) better outcome tracking and greater transparency through a Management Information System (MIS) and a robust impact evaluation. The project is currently in implementation phase and is being piloted in 200 villages. Contract for civil works has been awarded for 70 villages, with an additional 70 villages advertised for the same purpose.
The remaining 60 villages are currently in approval stage. The contract for the Tariff Appraisal Study & Calculation Methodology has already been awarded and is estimated to be completed within the next four months. Additionally, the contract for Behavior Change and Capacity Development Program (BCCD) is also in progress and will be awarded soon.