Villages benefited from water supply project in Myanmar

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-05 12:24

YANGON-- A total of 20,830 villages out of 23, 225 across Myanmar have been supplied with pure drinking water during the first eight years of a 10-year rural water supply project, according to the Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Sunday.

Of the 20,830 villages benefited from the project which runs from the fiscal year 2000-01 to 2009-2010, 8,037 are in three arid divisions of Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay which faced water shortage.

A total of 532 water supply projects were implemented in the three dry zones in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

According to the ministry, it spent 6.491 billion Kyats (US $5.4 million dollars) for the first eight years of the project ( 2000-01 to 2007-08) and 2.15 billion Kyats (over 1.79 million dollars) has been earmarked to spend on the projects in the present 2008-09.

Besides, 236 tube wells were sunk in northern part of Shan State and 35 deep wells drilled in the arid zones in another project undertaken with the cooperation of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), while 97 tube wells and deep wells drilled in two townships in the central part of the country with the cooperation of the Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ), the sources said.

Meanwhile, the Yangon municipal authorities is planning to build water distribution centers in water-scarce areas to boost its water supply to the city, designing a supply of 45 million gallons of water from a major nearby dam called Nga Moe Yeik Dam, the Yangon City Development Committee said.

Myanmar has also worked out a strategic plan to improve water resources management in the country with the cooperation of United Nations Commission for Asia and the Pacific, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

As part of its efforts to improve irrigation water resources, Myanmar has built 209 dams and reservoirs as well as 305 river- water pumping stations, the ministry added.