CHITRAL, Sept 28: The Peshawar-based US political consular at Peshawar, Mr Gautam Rana, on Tuesday visited the irrigation channel at the Charun village of upper Chitral being constructed with the help of the USAID and executed by the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP).

He expressed satisfaction over the quality of work and the speed at which it was being carried out.

He said to the officials and workers present there that the US was committed to community development of rural areas in Pakistan.

The US collaboration, he said, would continue.

The project was inaugurated by US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca last May.

Gautam Rana also participated in the inaugural ceremony of the drinking water project at the Junali Koch village funded by the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund and built by the SRSP.

The project, which will provide clean drinking water from a nearby spring, costs Rs2.8 million.

The villagers lauded the role of the SRSP and said that they were forced to drink contaminated water since long as a result of which diseases of different kinds were common in the community.

Five community organizations of the village have joined together for the project and the representative of the cluster organization received the first instalment of the fund in the form of a bank cheque from the US diplomat.

The provincial chief executive officer of the SRSP was also present on the occasion. He said that the USAID was funding the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund to do a number of projects with civil society organizations in Chitral.

He said that the SRSP was working for poverty alleviation and rural development in close collaboration with other organizations.