SHIMLA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan worth $96.3 million to provide safe drinking water and improve water supply and sanitation services in Himachal Pradesh. The funds will be used for implementation of projects under the Himachal Pradesh Rural Drinking Water Improvement and Livelihood Project.
Although, over 90 per cent of the rural population of Himachal Pradesh has access to drinking water, the present water supply infrastructure is old and deteriorated, which has been resulting in insufficient and poor service quality. The ADB project aims to connect over 75,000 households to an uninterrupted water supply to about 3,70,000 residents across 10 districts. Jude Kohlhase, ADB Unit Head of Project Administration on Urban Development and Water for South Asia, said that the project aligns with the objective of the Jal Jeevan Mission, a national flagship programme of the Government of India.
The project aims to improve water supply and sanitation services through construction of 48 groundwater wells, 80 surface water intake facilities, 109 water treatment plants, 117 pumping stations, 3000 kilometres of water distribution pipelines, among others. A pilot programme of faecal sludge management and sanitation is also to be implemented in Sirmaur district of the state, which will benefit 2,50,000 residents and also determine the replicability and thus guide the designs of future projects.