Rainwater harvesting: ERRA, NGOs to fight water scarcity in K-P, AJK

ERRA signs contract to promote rainwater harvesting in the earthquake-hit areas.

ISLAMABAD: ERRA has signed a contract with various community organisations to promote rainwater harvesting in the earthquake-hit areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Hamid Yar Hiraj, the chairperson of Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA), said that the project is a “long term, pro-poor solution for water scarcity in the earthquake-affected areas”.

The ceremony was held at ERRA Headquarters on Friday. Chief of Water Planning Commission and representatives of Ministry of Environment, PCRWR, EAD, UNDP, World Bank, UNICEF and governments of AJ&K and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa along with high ranking officials of ERRA were present.The community organisations collaborating with ERRA include Anjuman Falah-o-Behbud, Maqsood Welfare Foundation, Women Welfare Organization Poonch, Health Education Environment Development, Society for Upgradation of Knowledge Health & Infrastructure and Network for Human and Social Development.

Chairman ERRA Hamid Yar Hiraj thanked partner organizations and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) for their financial support for the project.

He said the importance of this economical and highly-viable alternative method of ensuring water availability could not be underestimated as it would not only benefit urban centres but also distant rural areas of Sindh and Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2010.