CHITRAL, April 3: The people of Chitral have expressed reservations at the mode of execution of safe drinking water supply project, financed by a German development bank.

“According to the procedure, the community has to bear more than 40 per cent cost of the project. The residents of Chitral can't afford it,” they said.

Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, a number of people complained that the executing agency of the project, Aga Khan Planning and Building Service (AKPBS), made it difficult for poor Chitralis to benefit from the project.

The kfW, the German bank, has approved the project for the people of remote villages of Chitral to supply safe drinking water to them.

Syed Mahmood, a resident of Mulkhow village, said that people of his village were too poor to bear 40 per cent of the total cost of the project. “We will remain deprived of safe drinking water,” he feared.

He complained that the excavation work for laying pipes should be carried out by community instead of paying 40 per cent cost of the project. “This work is tantamount to more than 50 per cent of the estimated cost” he claimed.

He said that Chitral was a mountainous region where rock cutting was also a part of excavation. “Most of the people in villages are daily wagers. How they will earn their livelihood if they are involved in excavation work without paying them,” he said.

The former nazim of Broze union council, Abdul Haq, said that it would be difficult for the people of various remote villages to get safe drinking water even after the execution of the project if the community's share was not reduced to 10 per cent.

He said that most of the water supply schemes in the district had gone out of order owing to use of substandard material. The water supply schemes needed repair, he added.

The AKPBS project manager, Mohammad Karam, when contacted, that it was not a decision of donors to force community to bear 40 per cent cost of the project.

“It is meant to create a sense of ownership among the community members,” he said, adding that work on eight schemes was started in different villages.