Japan has signed an agreement with the Aga Khan Cultural Service to provide a grant worth US$ 132,826 (€ 94,300) to support drinking water supply schemes in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

The Aga Khan Cultural Service will use the grant, provided as part of Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP), to initiate two projects in Skardu and Giram Altit to provide safe drinking water and improve public health. In Skardu, a 3.9 km pipeline will be laid in the village of Doqsa, together with a water filtration plant capable of processing 8,640 gallons of polluted water an hour and supply the clean water to the village's 1,000 inhabitants. The Improvement of Community-based Environmental Sanitation project in Giram Altit will include a 2 km pipeline and a sewage disposal plant, which will improve sanitation for the 1,200 people of the community.

Signing the agreement, the Japanese ambassador said that he hoped that the projects would improve the lives of the people of the two villages and would strengthen ties between Japan and Pakistan.

Related news:

• Pakistan: mixed results from Citizen Report Card on water and sanitation, Source South Asia, 20 Aug 2008;
• Water supply and sanitation in Pakistan, Source South Asia, 18 Aug 2008

Web site:Aga Khan Development Network

Source: APP, 26 Sep 2008

Tags: financing, rural wash, south asia, wastewater treatment, water supply