ISLAMABAD, May 1: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a technical assistance grant of $350,000 for preparation of an environmental project for Rawalpindi, a statement issued by the bank said.

The second phase of the three-phase Rawalpindi Environment Improvement Project will be completed from July to November this year.

The grant was approved on April 21 to prepare the project, which is in the bank’s pipeline of $80 million assistance to be released in 2004, the statement said.

The bank had approved $72 million for the first phase in 1993 under the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project, to address the problems of scarcity of safe drinking water and poor drainage in Rawalpindi — the third largest city of the country with over 1.5 million population.

At the completion of the first phase of the programme this year, Rawalpindi will have increased water supplies from 192,000 cubic meter per day (cmd) to the planned 256,000cmd, with considerable rehabilitation and extension of its water supply distribution network and an improved drainage system.

The improvement of the Leh drainage system to mitigate the recurrent flood problem is a particularly important intervention under the first phase of the programme, the statement said.

The current technical assistance will prepare the second phase of the programme, focusing on further improvements to the sewerage and drainage system in the city, the provision of a sewage treatment plant and solid waste management.

ADB country director M.Ali Shah said the project would improve living conditions, and reduce poverty in a city where available water is inadequate to meet basic needs and environmental conditions are hazardous due to inadequate sewerage, drainage, and solid waste management facilities.

Under the technical assistance, the overall project design, scope, cost and financing plan, will be prepared and provide recommendations for strengthening the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) and Wasa for sustainable operation of the municipal functions under the government‘s devolution plan.

The grant is envisaged to be in two phases. The first phase will involve a detailed situation analysis, while the second phase will prepare the proposed project.

Project interventions will specifically focus on low-income communities. The project will be prepared using community participation, including women groups, and involving, wherever feasible and appropriate, implementation through community-based organizations. Under the programme governance, issues relating to beneficiary and local government participation, specially the devolution of powers to local governments, will be reviewed.