Sanitary Workers Settlement (SWS), Rampura Muzaffarabad
Background
The July-August, 2010 monsoon flash floods in the mountainous Pakistan Administered Kashmir were intense and highly destructive. In the town of Muzaffarabad, an entire settlement of sanitary workers, situated at the right bank of river Neelum, was uprooted. The community was residing here since 1947 and with time, had been displaced several times because of floods (1973, 1992 and 2010) and the earthquake of 2005.
Objectives
The Sanitary Workers Settlement Project started on December 29, 2010 with the aim of constructing a planned settlement, with basic facilities, to house 78 most vulnerable families of sanitary workers. Initially, the proposed project included construction of roads, pathways, shelter, kitchen, provision of latrine materials, retaining walls, septic tank, soakage pit and plot levelling, which was later supported by additional protection works including extra retaining walls, Plain Cement Concrete (PCC) drainage and fixing of Un-Plasticized Poly Vinyl Chloride
(UPVC) pipes.
The Community Reconstruction Committee, which was formed and empowered to make decisions, provided a list of 78 vulnerable families, which was endorsed by the Deputy Commissioner Muzaffarabad and after conducting a survey, accepted by UN-HABITAT.
100 % financial and 100% physical progress has been achieved as of July 31, 2011. An additional 57% of the total budget allocated by UKaid was arranged by UN-HABITAT from other sources to complete the project. Families have started moving into shelters and started filling 'dhajji' in timber frames as part of their contribution. The project has been completed on July 31, 2011.
