NETHERLANDS TO HELP RS.165 CRORE WATER & SANITATION PROJECT IN QUAKE HIT DISTRICTS OF GUJARAT

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The Netherlands will assist a community managed water supply and sanitation project in earthquake affected districts of Gujarat at a total cost of Rs.165 crores. Besides this, Netherlands will also assist in the Rs.57 crore expansion phase of NAP II in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. The rural water supply and sanitation projects in Alappuzha and Idukki distircts in Kerala are going to be implemented shortly with assistance from Netherlands.

This was announced when the Rural Development Minister Shri Shanta Kumar visited the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC) at Delft in Netherlands. The Minister was informed that currently the Ghogha Regional Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Gujarat is under implementation with assistance from the Netherlands government. The Minister thanked the Government of Netherlands for supporting various projects in water and sanitation sector and expressed the hope that such bilateral cooperation will get further boost. He felt that Dutch assistance could be of great help in tackling water problems in hilly regions of the country as well as other water scarcity areas.

The Minister said that the Government has launched a major reform initiative in water and sanitation sector involving community participation and emphasized on effective decentralisation of these infrastructure. Shri Shanta Kumar said we have already covered most of the 1.4 million habitations in terms of drinking water coverage except 1.5 per cent habitation, which is planned to be covered by March 2004.

Earlier on his arrival at IRC, the Minister was briefed by Mr. Jan Teun Visscher, Director of the Centre about the role played by IRC and the technical supports extended by IRC to Water and Sanitation Sector Reform Initiatives in India.