Swat Valley: In compliance with the directives of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to help hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis get access to drinking water, the UAE project team tasked to help Pakistan has announced the launching of a water distribution network that will serve 44 villages.
The ceremony for the handover of the water pumping stations to provincial authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was attended by Director of the UAE project, Abdullah Khalifa Al Gafli, senior military officers and other officials and the people from the villages.
The projects were chalked out as per the directives of Shaikh Khalifa to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the devastating flood that swept across many villages and towns in Pakistan in 2010.
It has been estimated that one third of the entire Pakistani population do not have adequate access to safe drinking water and over 46 per cent have no access to proper sanitation facilities.
The directorate of the UAE project announced that a total of 64 drinking water projects will be completed. The projects included digging of water wells, establishment of water purification stations and construction of pipelines to carry pure drinking water into around 64 villages in various provinces in Pakistan.
Officials said that the remaining 20 projects will soon be completed and handed over to local authorities
A report released by the directorate noted that the development projects focused mainly on the provision of basic needs such as clean drinking water and sanitation, in the absence of which life threatening diseases like hepatitis and malaria will spread.
The villagers who attended the ceremony expressed their gratitude to this great humanitarian initiative and raised their hands in prayer.
