ISLAMABAD: The Secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Muhammad Saleem Sethi has signed the irrigation project here on Friday with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Financing of US$ 43 million for FATA Water Resources Project shall be secured through ADB's soft lending window.
Under this project 9 small dams with the height of 15 meters shall be constructed, directly benefiting thousands of households in Khyber, Mohmand and Bajour agencies,according to statement issued.
For the irrigation purposes, 31 diversion weirs and 95 kilometers of main and secondary irrigation channels to provide a reliable and uninterrupted supply of water through the year shall be constructed.
The project also includes the installation of rain and stream gauges to measure water availability and building of watershed management on 5 thousand ha through afforestation of the degraded watershed.
Muhammad Saleem Sethi, appreciated the efforts of ADB in helping Pakistan's energy, infrastructure and irrigation sectors through enlarging its portfolio from US$ 4.5 billion to 5.5 billion.
He also highlighted the importance of ADB's funding in FATA at this point of time that will eventually secure the food security, economic prosperity, elimination of terrorism and supporting the Government efforts in bringing peace in the region.
The Federally Administered Tribal Areas Water Resources Development Project (FWRDP) will address low farm productivity, high poverty incidence, and pervasive food insecurity in FATA
By increasing agriculture production and household incomes through the provision of a reliable supply of irrigation water to non-irrigated farm lands and through development of irrigation systems on rain fed and non-cultivated lands.
FATA has a population of approximately 4.3 million, which represents about 2.4% of Pakistan's total population.
It is one of the most underdeveloped regions of Pakistan and its inhabitants are among the poorest in the country.
The population is poorly educated, lacks access to adequate health care, and is deprived of basic services such as potable water and sanitation.
The Project area consists of three FATA agencies, namely Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber and project completion date is March, 2020.
Comments
Comments are closed.