KOHAT, Aug 18: An amount of Rs120 million given as grant by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for improvement of sanitation system and construction of a waste recycling plant has gone down the drain, sources said.

Investigations conducted by Dawn revealed that the recycling plant completed at a cost of Rs25 million could not be made operational since its completion in 1995.

Likewise, the Solid Waste Management Plant for which the now-defunct Provincial Urban Development Board (PUDB) had purchased 80 kanals of land could not be made functional.

The ADB had sanctioned a grant of more than Rs4 billion in 1992 for the improvement of the outdated sanitation system and construction of waste recycling plants in major cities of the province.

The Kohat project was abandoned on the expiry of the three-year period for its completion because the PUDB officials had allegedly squandered a major chunk of the allocated funds.

The sources said that the PUDB had appointed full-time staff at the two sites who drew salaries till 1998, although the projects had been rendered useless.

An official told Dawn that 7,000 house connections were required to make the plant fully operational, but the authorities could manage to connect only 300 houses. The reason was that secondary and tertiary lines were required to be connected with the main 9km line to maintain the flow of waste at the required level, he said. But the secondary and tertiary lines which had to serve as lifeline for the plant were not laid, he added.

Qutub Khan, who was deputy director of the Kohat project, said that he had requested the ADB through PUDB’s headquarters in 1998 for the release of Rs25 million for the completion of the fertiliser and garbage recycling plants, but they refused further funding for the project.