International aid: Japanese agency to provide funds for water

Agreement will help supply additional 20 million gallons per day.

FAISALABAD:

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a Rs4 billion grant to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) for provision of drinking water in Faisalabad, Wasa Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz said on Tuesday.

An agreement in this regard will be signed between JICA and the Punjab government in Lahore on Thursday, he said.

Aziz was addressing a press conference to brief the media about the project and its benefits. He said that the agreement will be signed at a meeting attended by the JICA team, the housing secretary and the planning and development secretary.

Aziz said that Wasa was supplying 60.5 million gallons of drinking water a day in Faisalabad. After the agreement is signed, 20 million gallons will be added to the daily supply, he said. This will help cater to more than 1 million additional consumers, he added.

The managing director said that the project would be completed within a couple of months after it final approval by the government of Japan.

He said that JICA would also supply machinery worth Rs800 million for new disposal pumps, replacement of old disposal pumps and cleaning of sewer drains.

Aziz said that the project will not affect the rates charged for water supply and drainage.

About the recovery of Wasa’s outstanding payments, the managing director said that the management was recovering an average of Rs350 million a month.

He said the recovery staff was adopting appropriate measures to generate the additional income by issuing notices to defaulters and would disconnect their water supply and sewer connections, if required.

He said, however, the recovery staff had been directed to be polite and courteous towards consumers.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2012.