UAE President's gesture: 44 villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa get drinking water

Swat Valley - July 8, 2012 (WAM) - Acting upon the directives of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to help hundreds of thousands of Pakistani people to get access to drinking water, the UAE project to help Pakistan has announced the launching of water distribution networks that will serve 44 villages in Pakistan. The ceremony for handing over the water pumping stations to the provincial authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was attended by Director of the UAE project to help Pakistan Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, senior Military officers and other officials and the people from the villages. The projects were chalked out as per directives of UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to alleviate the sufferings of the victims of the devastating flood that swept across many villages and towns in Pakistan in 2010. It has been estimated that one third of the entire Pakistani population suffer from the lack of pure drinking water and over 46 percent among them have no access to proper sanitation facilities. The directorate of the UAE project to help Pakistan had announced that a total of 64 projects for distribution of drinking water will be completed. The projects included digging of water wells, establishment of water purification stations and construction of pipelines to carry pure drinking water into around 64 villages in various provinces in Pakistan. Officials said that the remaining 20 projects will soon be completed and handed over to the local authorities A report released by the directorate noted that the development projects focused mainly on the provision of basic needs such as clean drinking water and sanitation, in the absence of which life threatening diseases like hepatitis and malaria will spread. The villagers who attended the ceremony expressed their gratitude to this great humanitarian initiative and rose their hands in prayer. – Emirates News Agency, WAM