PESHAWAR, March 25: The NWFP government will undertake a five-year-long rural water supply and sanitation project at an estimated cost of Rs814 million by the end of June to ensure provision of drinking water in the rural areas of the province, official sources said.

The UK-based Department for International Development (DFID) has agreed to bear 40 per cent of the total cost of the project, while the provincial government and other community groups would contribute 30 per cent each.

The project was discussed at a Local Government and Rural Development’s round-table meeting here on Tuesday, which was attended by officials of concerned departments, representatives of NGOs and civil society.

Briefing the participants, the DFID consultant, Dr Abid Ali, said over one million people in rural areas of the province would be benefited from the project and about 18,249 drinking water and sanitation schemes would be completed during the stipulated period.

During this period schemes for installing hand pumps, wells digging, surface water harvesting, drainage and solid waste disposal would be initiated, he added.

Dr Ali said the project was to begin in October 1999, but was postponed due to change in the political setup. He said the project was reviewed after the general election.

He said the project would help build capacity of the communities, create awareness in health and hygiene, address gender issues related to water and sanitation.

According to the NWFP Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey 2001, jointly conducted by Unicef and the planning and development department, 63 per cent population of the province had access to safe drinking water, 88 per cent in urban and 59 per cent in rural areas.

Some members of the round-table stressed that the government should strengthen the role of tehsil municipal officers by delegating administrative and financial powers to them.

An official of the local government department said the proposal was under consideration both at the federal and provincial level, but it would take time. In the first phase, he said, the government would build capacity of the TMAs and powers would be delegated in a latter stage.