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| April 15, 2003 | Tuesday | Safar 12, 1424 |
Over 30 projects on environment approved
ISLAMABAD, April 14: The NGO fund management committee of the Ministry of Environment on Monday approved more than 30 projects submitted by various NGOs from throughout the country for provision of financial grants in the year 2003.
The approved projects are mainly related to solid waste management, installation of water conservation and purification plants and tree plantation. It was decided that slow sand-water filtration plants, which are the safest and purest option for developing countries, would be installed in various cities and villages.
An amount of Rs1,200 million has been provided in the current financial year in the budget of the ministry under the head of special grant for NGOs for implementation of small environment-related development projects in the 14 core areas of the National Conservation Strategy.
Maj Tahir Iqbal (retired), the Minister of State (incharge) for Environment, during the meeting said major objective of the financial support to the NGOs was to create an enabling mechanism by which the NGOs are institutionally strengthened to become partners of the government in the implementation of the national conservation strategy.
He said only those projects with community-based approach, practical methodology and proper implementation strategy would be approved and they would be monitored by the provincial environment departments to ensure proper and timely utilization of the funds.
The minister stated that from the next year universities and research institutes would also be invited to submit proposals relating to education and research in the environmental sector.
The criteria and guidelines for approval of the projects were also discussed in the meeting and some amendments were suggested for better utilization of the funds.
Since the beginning of the programme in 1991-1992, a sum of about Rs92.18 million has been released to NGOs against these projects.
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