Kathmandu, June 15: The Ministry of Urban Development has said that as high as Rs 18 billion is needed to reconstruct the drinking water infrastructures that were damaged by the devastating April 25 earthquake and the subsequent aftershocks.
Information Officer in the Ministry Kabindra Bikram Karki said that the amount is needed to resume the supply of quality water in the communities. "As per the preliminary reports, the worst-hit 14 districts have witnessed 46 per cent damage in the drinking water projects and 15 per cent damage in 17 other districts," Karki added.
Likewise, Chief of Drinking Water and Environment Division in the Ministry Ramchandra Devkota also said that altogether 1,570 drinking water projects have been completely destroyed while 3,663 other projects surfaced partial damages. The quakes also damaged 220,000 toilets in the affected districts, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Drinking Water and Sewerage said that efforts were underway to fix the water supplies to Sindhupalchowk districts headquarters that was disrupted by the April 25 earthquake. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has expressed its willingness to construct a water processing centre in Chautara, Director General in the Department Ramdeep Sah said