Drinking water, sanitation policies drafted

PHED plans to present both policies to provincial cabinet for approval

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government has prepared a fresh draft of the revised drinking water and sanitation policies which will be presented soon in the cabinet meeting for approval.

This was disclosed during a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) on Sunday. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan presided over the meeting.

The meeting was told that drafts of the revised drinking water and sanitation policies will be submitted to the relevant working group.

A brief on the two-year performance of PHED, its reforms initiatives and development schemes were also presented.

Participants of the meeting were told that the e-tendering and e-bidding system have been introduced in the PHED, whilst the e-work order, online tender tracking system and online system for water connection developed by the department will be introduced soon.

As part of anti-corruption measures, a placement committee has been notified and all officers, who have spent over two years on the same post, have been transferred.

Similarly, under a capacity-building initiative, staff posted in different disciplines have been trained.

It was also informed that to ensure the internal monitoring of the department, a Monitoring Committee at the secretariat level has been notified while internal audits are regularly conducted.

Regarding the initiatives launched for water quality monitoring, it was informed that eight water quality testing laboratories and eight mobiles laboratories have been established.

Moreover, water quality profiles have been developed for five districts in cooperation with international development partners and the Peshawar University of Engineering and Technology. To build the profile, some 8,300 water samples were randomly collected and tested. Of these, around 87% were found to be fit.

CM Mahmood directed all departments to introduce e-tendering, e-bidding, e-work order and e-billing systems, adding that delivery of services to the public in an effective manner was their priority.

CM announces uplift schemes for Upper Dir

Meanwhile, the provincial chief executive announced several development schemes for Upper Dir. Addressing a public gathering in Patrak valley of Upper Dir the other day, Mahmood announced the construction of the Dir Expressway, upgrading of the Upper Dir District Headquarters Hospital to Category-A, upgrading the Partak police post to a full-fledged police station and the provision of Rs350 million in development funds for the construction and rehabilitation of various link roads and many other uplift schemes. He said that funds worth Rs173 million have been allocated for water supply schemes, emergency rescue service and various uplift schemes of Kumrat and Barawal valleys.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 27^th, 2020.