WasHCost project launched today

Hyderabad, Sept 2 (UNI) Principal Secretary, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation, Ajay Misra said the state government had created a separate department for water supply by realising the importance of watar and sanitation.

Launching the WASHCost(India)project(Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) he said the government had a separate ministry for Rural Water supply and Sanitation.

The five-year WASHCost project (2008 to 2012), aims at improving sustainability, cost-efficiency and equity of WASH service delivery in rural and peri-urban areas by identifying the factors influencing costs at each stage of WASH service delivery life-cycle.

The WASH cost project proposed to play a lead role in bringing about the transformation, working with local and national governments, resource centres, academic institutions, NGOs and international organisations in rural and peri-urban areas in four countries namely India, Ghana, Mozambique and Burkina Faso.

Working with key stakeholders, the project would conduct research during a five-year period that focusses on enviromental, institutional, social, financial sustainability of WASH service delivery, equitable access to poor and the marginalised.

Country Director, WASHCost project Dr Ratna Reddy while giving the overview of the project stressed the importance of not only providing infrastructure regarding water and sanitation services but also on the aspects of sustainability, equity.

He said the project aimed at reaching the unreached was in its inception phase and would get into the implementation phase by October this year.

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