KP’s streets and sewers in disrepair: A sanitation problems authorities can’t Ignore
PESHAWAR (APP): Peshawar, which once known as the city of flowers, was currently confronted to the monster challenge of poor sanitation due to unplanned construction and an outdated sewerage system, affecting almost all sectors including water, environment, health and education enormously.
The fragrance of Guli Dawoodi roses that attracted visitors to Peshawar’s mughal era gardens and parks in November-December was hardly seen due to an encroachment, pollution and poor sanitation services.
Wazir Bagh, Shalimar Gardens and Jinnah parks where children played hide and seek around Gule Dawodi were marred by encroachment and poor sewage services at Peshawar.
Besides others, urbanization was causing several governance challenges in big cities including housing, employment, sanitation and sewerage system that demands proactive approach realizing seriousness of problems, which are growing difficult with each passing day making the lives of mega city dwellers including Peshawar very difficult.
A visitor might have been unerved after inhaling the garbage smell of an oudated drainage channels while moving in Peshawar’s interior areas including Kohati, Gunj, Khalasa, Hazarkhwani, Lateefabad and Faqirabad.
“The sanitation services in these areas are very poor with bad smell eminating from uncovered drainage channels and water leakage pipes since long that has exposed residents to different health ailments, which need to be addressed on priority basis,” said Suliman Khan, a resident of Ganj Peshawar while talking to APP.
Although the provincial governments are spending huge funds to address sanitation problems posed by population growth, but still a lot of work was required to provide safe drinking water and immediate replacement of leakage water pipes to avert life threatening health hazards.
He said the situation was still grim due to significant movement of people from rural areas of KP towards major cities including Peshawar.
The sanitation workers said their problems and labour work has become hard due to increased urbanization in provincial metropolis as people were continuously migrating to various localities of the city for better economic and social services, putting presure on sanitation services.
Various other challenges including shortage of sanitary workers, vehicles, equipment and waste dumping sites have also aggrevated the issue in Peshawar.
The excessive population has not only increased workload on sanitation workers but also increased their problems due to low wages.
The unplanned infrastructure in major cities including Peshawar, Mardan, DI Khan, Nowshera, Bannu and Abbottabad was incompatible to the mass urbanization leading to further overburdening the task of sanitation staff.
Professor Dr Muhamnad Naeem, former Chairman Economics Department at University of Peshawar said that sanitation services of most of our cities including Peshawar were unfit to absorb the increasing load of migrants and the rusted water pipes required immediate replacement.
The urban share of the country’s population has increased by about 33 million between 1951 to 2017 which means that 14.5 million people migrated from villages to cities with nearly 750,000 per year increase, thus exerted extra presure on education, healthcare and sanitation services in Peshawar and other cities of Pakistan.
Underscoring the need of proper planning and diversion of financial resources to sanitation services in the wake of population explosion, he opined that capacity building of saniatory staff at local or municipality level could help operate and maintain sewerage systems viz a viz installation of wastewater treatment plants to combat sanitation challenges.
Ikhtair Wali Khan, PMLN KP spokesman said that PTI leadership were concentrating on agitation politics while problem of poor sanitation remained unresolved.
He said that rusted water pipes in interior city have exposed Peshawarties to various health problems.
He said that poor sanitation increases risks of fatal diseases including cholera, diarrhea, typhoid and polio.
In next fifteen years, he said about 55 percent of population would shift to urban areas, and the lack of inadequate sanitation conditions can have significant impacts on Govt hospitals that was already overburdened.
‘Sanitation services mostly in informal settlements are mostly affected due to construction of unplanned large buildings and other infrastructure in Peshawar due to overpopulation,” sources in Water and Sanitation Services Company (WSSP).
Work on 12-year Municipal Services Program of USD 44.6 million were completed underwhich nearly 20 lakh residents of Peshawar were provided access to clean drinking water, waste management, and improved sanitation services.
Under the project, 140 clean drinking water facilities serving 448,000 people, replacement of 25,700 meters of old and rusted water mains, ensuring clean, reliable water supply in 21 union councils, rehabilitated sewerage and drainage lines, which improve sanitation for two million people besides improved municipal waste management services, including 575 vehicles, and that an establishment of a repair and maintenance workshop for waste management equipment were achieved benefiting nearly two million residents of Peshawar.
Under KP Clean and Green intiative, he said that improving sanitation services in major cities, proper disposal of solid waste and providing green spaces for citizens was being focused.
This initiative includes the construction of modern waste treatment plants, expansion of sewerage systems, and provision of public toilets in high-density areas.
The sanitation awareness campaign has been launched aims to provide every urban household an access to basic sanitation and clean water.
The experts underlined the proactive role of media, civil society and religious scholars for creating mass awareness for improved sanitation services.
