OneWorld.net (U.S.)

Only 54 percent of Pakistan’s population has latrine and toilet facilities, according to a study on sanitation facilities conducted by the environment ministry. Out of this 54 percent, 70 percent reportedly live in urban areas, while 30 percent reside in rural areas.

The report said that in urban areas only 44 percent of the households used underground drainage systems, while in rural areas, 68 percent of the households had no such system, adding that most of the drainage systems lacked maintenance. It was revealed that there were very few sewage treatment plants and over 50 percent of the urban population lived in ‘katchi abadis’ (slums) whose sanitation plans had not been integrated into the city’s sanitation plans.

Most small towns were found to be without an underground sewerage system, while most of them used open drains that posed health hazards to residents. It was further revealed that more than 50 percent of the garbage generated from major cities was lifted and dumped into sites that were not officially approved, while most cities were without any waste management system at all. Estimates claimed that only five percent Pakistani households had access to municipal garbage collection systems, while incineration systems existed only in Karachi and Lahore, being responsible for unsafe disposal of hospital waste.

The study showed that the Pakistani majority was unaware that unsafe disposal of excreta was responsible for diarrhea. Public places such as transport terminals were found to lack public toilet facilities, while two thirds of the schools either lacked toilets or had non-functional ones. Moreover, most students and teachers did not know how to use latrines and sanitary workers were not available to clean them. The problem was shown to affect female health as well.

The report highlighted the government’s negligence regarding the water and sanitation sector, with only 0.08 percent of the GDP being spent on sanitation during the fiscal year 2002-03 and 0.09 and 0.10 percent during the fiscal years 2003-04 and 2004-05 respectively. The report said these allocations were insufficient to meet development targets in the water and sanitation sector. The report criticized the federal government’s manner of organising development programmes, showing that it adversely affected the autonomy of tehsil administrations in preparing development budgets. The federal government’s development schemes were also found to affect the working of municipal institutions.

The study unfolded that loans taken from the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) for sanitation projects were not effectively used and most of the projects had not been successful, with sewerage pipelines remaining in substandard condition and causing underground contamination.

Source: The Daily TimesMore