The World Bank has rated phase-I of Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRWSS) as the best in the country for exceeding water supply implementation target and providing water connections to villagers. The observation was made by a World Bank team led by its task team leader S Poddipireddy during a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The meeting was held to apprise the World Bank team about the progress made under the ongoing World Bank-aided PRWSS project.
Rs1,280 crore PRWSS project has exceeded the implementation targets under water supply component by 127 per cent besides providing water connections to each household in the village and running about 50 schemes on 24x7 basis. Poddipireddy informed the Chief Minister that water meters had been installed in 196 villages where water tariff was being charged on volumetric basis.
More than 961 villages implemented under the project have already achieved 100 per cent connectivity and each household in these villages was drawing high quality water from its own tap in the house. Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committees (GPWSCs) of more than 50 per cent (2,083) villages were operating and maintaining this scheme on sustainable basis without any financial assistance from the government and have generated sufficient funds in their Operation and Maintenance (O&M) accounts varying from Rs one to 10 lakh, he said. The team task leader also apprised Badal that World Bank has already accorded in-principle approval to Rs2,200 crore Phase-II of PRWSS project on the recommendations of Union Ministries of Finance and Water Supply and Sanitation for providing the facility of sewerage system and potable drinking water and setting up Capacity Building Project Management and Training Institute.