Kathmandu, September 16:

The UN-HABITAT and the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) have reached an agreement to work together to launch programmes to provide pro-poor water distribution services in five small towns across the country.

Several programmes for building capacity of the Water and Sanitation Users’ Committee

for pro-poor service delivery are scheduled to begin from October 2007 until September 2010 in towns including Birendranagar, Tulsipur, Kohalpur, Attariya and Mahendranagar, while management information system of water distribution system will be developed for all the towns across the country, the agreement has said.

The total project budget is estimated at $335,500, of which UN-HABITAT will provide $194,500, DWSS will provide $49,700, Town Development Fund will provide $19,800 and the community will contribute $71,500, a UN-HABITAT official said today. DWSS will be implementing the project as part of the ADB-supported Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project.