KOHAT, June 10: The provincial government has failed to utilise Rs1.8 billion set aside in the Annual Development Programme 2006-7 for installation of 986 high-capacity filter plants in all districts of the NWFP under the Clean Drinking Water for All (CDWA) programme.
Allocations amounting to Rs543.23 billion and Rs1,198.62 billion were made by provincial and federal governments, respectively, to launch the project last year.
The government had sought details about potential sites in each union council within 15 days in June to initiate the plan as soon as possible.
The Kohat district government had submitted names of 26 sites in 32 union councils to the provincial government in June but without identifying alternative sites in accordance with the government directives.
Now, the district government has again summoned nazims to identity alternative sites which may consume three or four months more, sources say.
“There are no tube wells or storage tanks in the four union councils excluded in the process that urgently need installation of filter plants,” Wahidullah Khattak, executive district officer (finance) said.
He said the provincial government had raised objections on sites identified earlier and now they were trying to send complete details to avoid further delays.
The initiative for the project was taken in 2004 in the light of studies conducted in 2001 with an allocation of Rs10 billion approved in 2005 for 6,035 union councils in the country, including 986 union councils in the NWFP.
Currently, there is only one filtration plant with a capacity of 2000 gallon per day in the Chakarkot area in Kohat.
The plant, which was installed by the tehsil municipal administration, was insufficient for local needs, a spokesman for the company which installed the plant at a cost of Rs800,000, said.
A majority of well-to-do people install plants in their homes as water being provided through century-old pipes is not fit for human consumption.
He said that it was the government’s responsibility to implement the Clean Drinking Water for All programme because most of the poor people did not afford separate plants and were prone to water-borne diseases.
Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani during his visit to
Kohat in February had announced a grant of Rs 50million to replace the old pipes in the city. The Public Health Engineering department had received adequate funds and a tender for the project had been floated because of efforts by elected representatives.
