General News: KfW Signs Agreement on Expansion of AKPBS Water and Sanitation Programme

Islamabad, 09 August 2010 - To improve drinking water supply and sanitation conditions in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan, Germany’s KfW will provide a grant of Euro 3.12 million for the implementation of the second phase of the Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) – a programme run by the Aga Khan Planning and Building Service, Pakistan (AKPBS,P).

The agreement for the first tranche of the 2nd phase of the programme was signed in Islamabad today by Dr. Anna-Christine Janke, Director KfW Office Islamabad, and Dr. Karim Alibhai, Chief Executive Officer of the Aga Khan Foundation in Pakistan. The programme is expected to benefit around 245,000 people in 307 villages of the Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral (GBC) region through construction and rehabilitation of potable water supply and on-site sanitation infrastructure, grey-water drainage infrastructure, community mobilisation and participation in construction and maintenance works along with health and hygiene education.

Having successfully implemented the first phase of the programme in Chitral and Gilgit-Baltistan a decade ago, AKPBS,P aims at utilising the current funding in the wider framework of the recent flood recovery efforts for the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities in the affected programme areas.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr. Anna-Christine Janke (Director KfW, Pakistan), expressed her appreciation for the services of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and its affiliated agencies in the areas of economic, social and cultural development. She expressed concern about the prevalent crisis caused by unprecedented floods and hoped that more donor contributions would be forthcoming to help Pakistan in its effort for early recovery and rehabilitation of the affected families.

Dr Karim Alibhai, CEO, Aga Khan Foundation (Pakistan), said that on completion of the first stage of the project, which would happen in the next six months, around 45,000 people from 50 villages in GBC would have access to clean drinking water, basic sanitation facilities and effective and efficient community-based management system. This would be a significant contribution to early recovery from the flood devastation. He expressed his appreciation for the support provided by the Government and people of Germany for development work in Pakistan. He further said that Germany and AKDN were longstanding partners across the world and would continue to cooperate with each other in finding creative solutions to the development challenges.

The Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral (GBC) region mostly comprises rural populations, living in around 1200 villages located in remote, high mountainous areas. Nearly half the population does not have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities. Many households have no option but to collect water from open, contaminated channels thus falling victim to water-borne diseases. During harsh winters, women and children suffer the most as they are the principal collectors and bearers of waters, and have to travel long distances to collect water for drinking, washing and cleaning.

For further information, please contact:

Salimah Shiraj
Communications Coordinator
Aga Khan Development Network
Telephone: + 92 21 35861242
Fax: +92 21 35861272
Cell: +92 300-8218592

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