ISLAMABAD, May 25: Unicef and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) here on Tuesday signed a $428,000 project aimed at improving water and sanitation quality and environment in Punjab and Sindh provinces.

According to an official spokesman, the project - Water environment and sanitation in Sindh and Punjab - would provide the people access to clean and safe drinking water and train them in the proper utilization of the commodity, besides improving sanitation and natural resource management.

The project would benefit more than 250,000 people of both the provinces. Unicef representative Omar Abdi and Onder Yucer, the UNDP resident representative, signed the project. The amount for the project would be provided from the Small Grant Programme of the two UN agencies.

The project is the first ever joint programme by Unicef and UNDP in Pakistan. The scheme is aimed at community mobilization for reducing water contamination through rational use of chemicals and reduction of contamination from water in selected schools.

Activities in programme agreement cover providing safe water sources and improving sanitation facilities to schools and tehsil headquarters by installing chlorination plants, relying on surface water sources and arsenic removal technologies.