Balochistan Programme to improve drinking water supply in Quetta

completed

The originally agreed programme had a volume of EUR 3.6 million promised to the Balochistan Rural Support Project (BRSP). This amount (hereinafter referred to as Phase I) was promised in three annual tranches (2009 - 2011) and was fully used by mid-2012. In Phase II, which began in mid-2012 and was financed with EUR 930,000, 15 water supply systems were rehabilitated or newly built. For 2013, the AA approved and commissioned a final Phase III for EUR 500,000. The contracts for this were signed in Islamabad in May 2013. With these new funds, Phase II can be completed and a total of 5 more systems (4 in Quetta district and 1 in Pishin district) can be built. The programme will therefore be completed towards the end of 2013. The overall objective was to improve living conditions and health, and to make efficient use of scarce water resources, thereby contributing to stabilizing the region. The project objective was to ensure an adequate supply of drinking water to the population in the project area, as well as to raise awareness of the appropriate use of drinking water and to provide operating personnel with sufficient skills to properly operate the repaired drinking water supplies. A total of 26 rural drinking water systems will be newly built or fundamentally renovated by the end of the year as part of the program. The infrastructure measures will be accompanied by extensive health and hygiene campaigns, as well as training in system maintenance. In addition, the water supply and sanitation facilities in a number of schools have been fundamentally renovated, and in the first phase, program funds were also used to finance extensive emergency measures following the devastating floods in Pakistan.