MANSEHRA (The Thursday Times) — A water supply scheme funded by Japan now brings safe drinking water to more than 6,000 people in Village Bakki, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mansehra district, after Japan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Akamatsu Shuichi, inaugurated it on Wednesday.
The Government of Japan gave $59,764 for the project under its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects programme. It was carried out by Friends Welfare Association Pakistan, a non-governmental organisation that works on education, health, water, and sanitation.
A gravity-fed system
The scheme is a gravity-flow system with 6,013 metres of galvanised iron main supply pipe and a water intake tank. The association and local residents also contributed to the excavation, the transport of materials, and water-quality testing.
A 20-member committee from the village has been trained in water-quality management, hygiene, and the operation and maintenance of the system, which is meant to keep it running after the handover.
Less time fetching water
Women and girls in the village have long carried the burden of collecting water. Ambassador Akamatsu said safe water would ease that daily load, give children more time for school, and improve health across the community, and he urged residents to maintain the system so it lasts.
The ceremony was attended by Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf, a member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Additional Deputy Commissioner Asad Mehmood Lodhi, embassy officials, and members of the village committee.
Japan funds small community projects across Pakistan under the same programme, often in water, schools, and health. The ambassador said he hoped the new system would stand as a symbol of friendship between the two countries.
