17 million Afghans need access to potable water: Minister

KABUL (Pajhwok): Signing contracts for 99 water supply projects with development councils on Tuesday, Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Mujib Rahman Karimi said nearly 17 million people needed help to find access to clean drinking water in the country.

The projects would be implemented in Kabul, Khost, Balkh, Badghis, Jawzjan, Samangan, Panjshir, Takhar, Ghazni, Parwan, Ghor, Badakhshan, Nangarhar, Bamyan, Daikundi, Helmand, Zabul, Paktia, Faryab, Kandahar and Nuristan provinces.

Karimi told a ceremony here that the projects signed with development councils would cost more than 240 million afghanis financed by the Ministry of Finance and UNICEF.

He said the projects included digging deep wells for clean water, building water supply networks, water reservoirs and building an irrigation canal.

These projects would create 176,000 working days and benefit more than 22,000 families once implemented, Karimi said.

He added currently 17 million people (63 percent of population) in Afghanistan needed help in finding access to potable water and 53 present of these people lived in rural areas.

About drought in the country this year, he said his ministry had developed a national water supply program for reducing the drought pressure.

According to an MRRD survey, around 20 provinces face drought while nine provinces face acute shortage of water.

mds/ma

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