UMERKOT: By installing a large number of reverse osmosis (RO) plants in the Thar region, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Sindh government have launched a long-term project aimed at resolving the issue of drinking water in this region once and for all.

This was stated by Minister for Population Welfare Syed Ali Mardan Shah while speaking to journalists here the other day. Chief operating officer of the Pak Oasis Irshad Hussain was also accompanying him.

“We are working day and night to execute the project,” Mr Shah said, adding that solar powered RO plants installed in villages had provided great relief to the local people.

Such plants were being installed in all villages in the region, he added. “Once the work is completed, Tharis would not more be waiting for rains, until recently their lifeline,” the minister said. Besides, they would be able to grow vegetables, fruits and other crops and also nourish their livestock, he added.

The minister hoped that the project would help bring an end to the famine that hit the region chronically.

He recalled that the Sindh government had seven years back planned installation of 880 RO plants in Tharparkar. Out of them, 88 major plants producing 100,000 gallons per day each and another 418 producing 10,000 gallons per day each had already been completed while work on the remaining plants was in full swing, the minister said.

Mr Hussain briefed the media about the project and gave details of the plants being installed in different areas.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2015

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