SWAT
The Mingora greater water supply and neighborhood park project under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP) aimed at mitigating the impacts of climate change on groundwater resources, promoting tourism, and significantly improving the overall health of the city’s inhabitants.
These views were expressed by the Commissioner Malakand in a meeting with five-member team of directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The team comprised of directors Moushomi Khan, Ms. Keiko Tahakashi, Alberto Carden, Noor Ahmad, Senior Project Officer Umar Ali Shah, and Asad Aleem.
The KPCIP management unit, under the chairmanship of Commissioner Malakand Saqib Raza Aslam, briefed the ADB team.
KPCIP Director Technical Mian Muhammad Shakeel gives briefing on technical aspect, Director Compliance Amir Alam Khan on social safeguard and environmental aspect while Director Finance Qazi Raees on financial aspects of the project.
The commissioner emphasized the importance of the water supply project for the city, especially given the rising population.
He also highlighted the city’s historic and cultural significance, with special reference to Buddhist heritage sites.
“Population growth has significantly increased the burden on water resources, and climate change has exacerbated the situation further,” he said.
He noted that the floods in 2010, 2015, and 2022 had severely impacted the district’s infrastructure, particularly in the city.
The commissioner expressed hope that the water supply scheme would address the water shortage and help preserve groundwater resources for future generations. Under the scheme, water from the River Swat will be tapped and supplied through a pipeline to a water treatment plant, where it will be treated using a rapid treatment system.
The treated water will then be distributed through a 485-kilometer-long pipeline network. The treatment plant will process 30 million gallons per day and serve 80 percent of the population, covering 850,000 residents.
KPCIP’s Senior Project Officer Umar Ali Shah highlighted the gender component of the project, wherein 200 women are being trained under a one-year fully funded internship program.
“In the first batch, 25 women have already been placed in relevant departments at water and sanitation service companies according to their educational background,” he said.
The internship program aims to encourage and enable women to play a constructive role in the development of society.
He also briefed the team on agreements signed with various national and international educational institutions for fully funded scholarships for women.
Notably, KPCIP recently signed an MoU with the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, under which the institute will enroll 30 women in a two-year fully funded scholarship program, with ADB covering their expenses.
ADB’s director Khan lauded the efforts for promoting women’s education and offering them internship and scholarship programmes to enable them to build their careers. Later, the team inspected the environmental and social safety measures at the neighborhood park and water supply scheme sites.
