The Project will construct 24 rural water supply schemes to provide drinking water to 1,255 villages covering eight districts in Himachal Pradesh. The Project also includes information, education and communication activities, which will increase awareness among the rural population about the importance of safe drinking water, improve citizen participation, and instill ownership behavior for water supply schemes.

The objective of the Project is to provide piped drinking water to 14% of the total partially covered rural habitations and improve the quality of water supplied.

The Project will be completed by the end of 2024. GoHP will be the Project Entity and Jal Shakti Vibhag will be the Implementing Agency.

The Project is Category “B” in line with NDB’s Environmental and Social Framework (ESF). The environmental and social (E&S) impacts of the Project will mainly include (i) conversion of forest land and associated impacts on biodiversity, (ii) impacts of surface and groundwater abstraction, (iii) common impacts derived from civil works such as air emissions, noise, waste and wastewater, and (iv) workers’ health and safety issues during the construction stage. The Project will not require physical resettlement or people or significant acquisition of private land. The Environmental and Social Impact Management Plan (ESIMP) has been prepared for the Project. The ESIMP includes actions for E&S capacity building, mitigation of key E&S impacts and risks, assuring compliance with the country systems, and E&S performance supervision and reporting.

The total Project cost is estimated at USD 100 million. The Project will be financed through a loan of USD 80 million from NDB and a counterpart fund of USD 20 million from the Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP).