The United Nations Office for Project Services has transferred $7.6 million worth of water and sanitation infrastructure to the Public Health Engineering Departments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, equipping both provinces with solar powered systems designed to lower long term operational costs. The project, funded by the US Department of State, delivered six drinking water supply schemes, more than 40 kilometers of distribution pipelines, and over 1,300 water collection points across Umerkot district in Sindh and Tank district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The infrastructure now serves nearly 300,000 people across the two districts. A fully equipped water testing laboratory was also handed over to support continuous quality monitoring for 164,000 residents, while six school toilet blocks were built to provide sanitation access to 6,440 students. The economic centerpiece of the transfer lies in its solar component, with the United Nations Office for Project Services installing more than half a megawatt of solar power capacity across the schemes, allowing them to operate independently of the national electricity grid.
By moving these systems off grid, provincial departments are expected to avoid recurring electricity and diesel expenses tied to running the water infrastructure, reducing the fiscal burden of long term maintenance while also cutting the project’s overall carbon footprint. With reliable clean water now available closer to home in both districts, local women are reported to be reallocating hours previously spent on water collection toward income generating activities such as handicrafts, kitchen gardening, and agriculture, converting what was previously unpaid labor into productive economic activity for affected households.
The Public Health Engineering Departments of both provinces will now take over operation and maintenance of the infrastructure going forward. The United Nations Office for Project Services has planned capacity building programs covering system operation and maintenance, water quality monitoring, and project management to strengthen institutional readiness for sustained service delivery. By pairing solar powered infrastructure with provincial ownership and skills transfer, the handover is intended to convert external financing into durable public infrastructure capable of lowering future costs and expanding economic opportunities for rural communities in both Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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