ZARANJ (SW): Lying on the southern edge of the country, residents of Nimroz province spend a bulk of their income just to buy drinking water for their family.
Located in the Sistan Basin, a substantial part of the province is the desert area of Dashti Margo and clean drinking water remains a scares commodity.
A local public school teacher Sheema told SW she pays afn 4000 a month to buy drinkable and clean water for domestic use. “I am paid afn 6500 a month but after spending around afn 4000 on water, I am left with very little to buy food for my kids or medicine for my ill husband”, she said.
Similar story was echoed by another Zaranj city resident, Mohammad Gul. “I spend 12 hours a day in my shop to earn some bread for my family but the lack of clean water drains most of my income”, he told SW.
The Provincial Directorate of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) acknowledge the dilemma. The RRD Director Fareed Azeem told SW that a number of water reservoirs have been developed at a distance of 45 kilometers from the province to meet the growing demand.
He said first phase of a 1200 m3 reservoir has been completed that would provide over 100 liters of clean water to each citizen throughout the day for the next 50 years. “More than 200, 000 people would benefit from this project from 2020 onwards”, he claimed.
The project is likely to cost $ 12 million and is said to be funding by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
ENDS
