Mehmood Ul Hassan Khan
Islamabad: July 9, 2012. On the special directives of H. H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayd Al Nahyan the President of the United Arab Emirate, the management of UAE Projects to Assist Pakistan has provided 44 villages of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, access to drinking water. It is indeed a remarkable achievement of the project management which has been working very hard day and night to bring socio-economic change in the war ragged province and other North West areas since 2011.
According to global water forum, drinking water is one of the serious problems in these areas. Generally people have to face harsh time in achieving and securing its different utility. The Director of UAE project to assist Pakistan Abdullah khalifa Al Ghafli said that it is a new beginning which makes drinking water available at door step.
Abdullah khalifa Al Ghafli said the projects management has succeeded to rebuild the wrecked infrastructure through its diversified but integrated various ongoing and already completed small and big projects of education, health care, roads and bridges building and the last but not the least, clean water in Swat and other districts. It would definitely help people affected from the natural disasters by improving their living standard enabling them return to normal life he further added.
According to different reports of the Asian Development Bank, the common people have been badly missing the basic facilities of schooling, health and clean drinking water in these truculent areas of the province and these imputes of the project management would bring comfort, relief and hope to their lives Al Ghafli he added. The Project Management announces the completion of water networks extended to 44 villages.
An official ceremony was held this occasion and attended by the Director of UAE projects to assist Pakistan Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghaffli and Major General Zahir Shah, Commander of the GOC 45th Engineers Division of the Pakistani Armed Forces as representative of the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani armed forces Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani along with UAE team and local high officials.
Al Ghafli briefed the media about the different ongoing and completed different projects in the four principal sectors i.e. education, health, infrastructure, roads and bridges and clean drinking water in the different parts of the province. He told reporters that the clean drinking water has been remained one of the key priorities of the President of UAE in Pakistan. The provision of portable water by drilling wells and extending water networks within a program that includes 64 villages in the northwestern areas of which 44 villages have now drinking water while 20 projects will be carried out and completed in South Waziristan he added.
He accompanied by Major General Zahir Shah and other guests and inspected one of the water plants and networks system extended to houses in the field.
High officials of the province paid their gratefulness for all the good things including the ongoing projects in the region. They termed these projects vital for the normalcy of life and development of the society.
The people of the region personally thanked the wise leadership of the UAE and of course management of the UAE project, assist Pakistan. They highly appreciated esteemed humanitarian spirits of the UAE leadership in the country and especially in the region. They will always remember the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of Modern UAE for his noble social projects in various cities and villages of the country.
The project management said that the remaining 20 projects will soon be completed and consequently handed over to the local administration. A report of the UN Office (2011) for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has stressed on the importance of providing clean water to protect millions of children from exposure to the risk of epidemics because of stagnant water. Moreover, World Bank says that Pakistan is one of the water scared country in the world and hopefully, these projects of clean drinking water and purification would bring healthy change in their societies.