Pakistan improving sanitation way faster than India: Study
By IANS | 9 May, 2015, 01.57PM IST
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NEW YORK: Pakistan has left India far behind in terms of improving water and sanitation access for their citizens, reveals a new performance index released on Friday.
While Pakistan was ranked five in the new index developed by The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health in the US, India occupied an unenviable 92nd position.
High-performing countries for 2015 are those that achieved significant improvement in recent years compared to their peers. Low-performing countries are those that showed stagnation or decline in recent years compared to their peers.
India's ranking as a bottom-performer predates the recent launch of the " Clean India Mission" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sub-Saharan Africa countries including Mali, South Africa, and Ethiopia are also among the top performers world-wide in spite of modest resources, according to the WaSH Performance Index that evaluates ..
Other high performers include China, El Salvador, Niger, Egypt, and Maldives. Conversely, Russia, the Philippines and Brazil were bottom performers .
The index compares countries of all sizes and income levels. Using this method, the report revealed that a country's gross domestic product did not determine performance in improving water and sanitation for its citizens.
"This means that even countries with limited resources can make great strides if they have the right programs in place," said co-author of the report Jamie Bartram, director of The Water Institute at UNC.
"National governments, NGOs, and aid agencies can direct their resources toward building systems and capacity for action in countries that are lagging, and toward implementation where those capacities are in place and performing," Bartram noted.
First export ship to embark on journey from Gwadar Port
ISLAMABAD: The first consignment, comprising fish exports, is expected to depart from Gwadar Port on Monday, formally kicking off commercial activities, said Federal Secretary for Ports and Shipping Khalid Pervez.
The Chinese Overseas Ports Holding Company is responsible for operation of the port; officials from the company would be present on the occasion along with others including Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Kamran Micheal.
On Sunday, the Chinese Overseas Shipping Company (COSCO) will bring empty containers to the port before they will be loaded with fish, marking the formal inauguration of export from the deep sea port.
The Chinese have taken control of the activities for export of their products to Central Asian countries and Middle East in the long run, part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Project, which was recently kicked off by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his last-month visit to Pakistan.
Import activity from the Gwadar Port began in 2009. Since then, cargoes containing fertilisers and wheat have been imported through this port by the government.
However, the private sector has yet to start its export/import from the Gwadar Port, hindered because of the connecting roads being under construction. The Economic Coordination Committee of cabinet had decided in 2009 that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan(TCP) should use Gwadar for the import of wheat and fertiliser via the newly establish port aimed at starting the operation gradually.
A senior officer in the Ministry of Ports and Shipping said that the Gwadar Port has been given to the Chinese company on the basis of the ‘Land Lord Port Concept’ on 9% gross revenue for the next 40 years. He explained that the company will pay Pakistan from its gross revenue and not on the net profit.
The officer said that at this stage, fish cargo can only be exported via Gwadar port as there are only fish processing factories in the area.
The officer believed that it will take decades for the port to become profitable due to the geographical location of Gwadar.
Port Qasim, he mentioned, had become formally operational in 1979 and reached its breakeven point after two decades despite being situated in the business and industrial hub of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 10th, 2015.
