Damascus, SANA- Syria and the Czech Republic have discussed ways of joint cooperation between the two countries in the field of implementing and installing drinking water purification plants in the most needy areas.
That came during a meeting Tuesday that brought together Minister of Water Resources in the caretaker government, Eng. Osama Abu Zeid, and a Czech delegation.
During the meeting held at the Ministry building, Minister Abu Zeid highlighted the challenges facing the Ministry, in light of a destroyed infrastructure and severe damage to the water facilities in Syria during the years of the former regime.
In a statement to SANA following the meeting, Minister Abu Zeid pointed to the Ministry’s cooperation with international organizations on the issue of water purification, especially in the areas of eastern Homs and Hama, where the water quality is sulfuric, as well as in the countryside of Aleppo and Palmyra, which suffer from high levels of fluorine in the water.
He clarified that the Ministry is seeking to make the water 100% compliant with Syrian standards.
Minister Abu Zeid shed light on the deficit that befell water stations, with the absence of electricity, lack of funding and fuel and maintenance work, in addition to the previous debts left by the former regime, which increased the burdens on the Ministry of Water Resources.
For his part, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Czech Foreign Ministry, Petr Hladík, said: “We are working to lift sanctions on the Syrian people and contribute to the rehabilitation of destroyed areas, and we are working to develop mechanisms to improve the projects we have implemented previously to ensure their sustainability in the future.”
Hladík added that there will be a focus on new projects represented by renewable energies and the development of purification plants, and the establishment of other plants for waste refining and sewage treatment.
Ruaa al-Jazaeri
