F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: As an important development towards providing clean drinking water to the people by ensuring quick, accurate and hassle free testing of water-quality in the province, Mobile Water Testing Laboratories have been handed over to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. A ceremony to this effect was held here at Chief Minister’s House Peshawar on Thursday with Caretaker Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Justice (R) Syed Arshad Hussain Shah as chief guest on the occasion.
Besides Provincial Cabinet Members, Additional Chief Secretary and spokesperson to Chief Minister Brigadier (R) Syed Mujtaba Tarmizi and Administrative Secretaries of the concerned departments, Country Director Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Pakistan Mr. Yeon Je Ho, Country Manager United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) Pakistan Ms. Jennifer Ankrom-Khan and other concerned officials attended the ceremony.
On this occasion, Country Director KOICA and Country Manager UNOPS formally handed over eight Mobile Water Testing Laboratories to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, under the project “Enhancing water quality monitoring system to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The project is aimed at to contribute towards addressing the lack of clean drinking water by enhancing water-quality testing capacity in the province.
Besides providing aforesaid Mobile Water Testing Laboratories, other important initiatives have also been taken under the project including procurement and installation of advanced laboratory equipment, upgrading the laboratory buildings and training of the staff working in those laboratories to ensure safe and efficient working environment and capacity enhancement of the water-quality testing Laboratories.
Similarly, under the project, Management Information Software (MIS) has also been developed in order to strengthen the water-quality data management at provincial level as well as to enable the Ministry of Climate Change to have close collaboration with the provincial government for this purpose. Water Mobile Testing Laboratories, handed over to the province, would be utilized at divisional headquarters for testing the water-quality especially in the far-flung areas that will benefit over 50 % of the population of the province.
Addressing the ceremony, the caretaker Chief Minister has extended his sincere appreciation to partner organizations for successful completion of this important project of public welfare. He said that this collaborative project, made possible through the partnership between KOICA, UNOPS and the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, underscores the effectiveness of collective efforts in addressing development issues and the work towards achieving sustainable development goals adding that with generous funding from the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), our joint endeavors have spanned eight districts within this province. He extended heartfelt gratitude to the esteemed partners for their pivotal role in transforming this initiative into a reality.
“Through these mobile laboratories, PHE department will be able to monitor and supply clean drinking water to the people of this province”, he said and added that the Laboratories will also be used to respond to public health emergencies during natural disasters or spread of waterborne diseases.
He, on the occasion, also invited the partner organizations to put forth further initiatives for the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and anticipated the continuation of collaborative efforts in the future. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has talented and highly skilled human resource, and we would look forward for collaboration of partner organizations and providing skilled human resource to foreign countries.
