(The article below originally appeared in the major Kosovo daily Kosovë. See a scan of the original article.)

USAID Provides Six Million Dollars for Drinking Water
Municipalities benefiting from this project are Peja, Drenas, Klina and Malisheva

Peja, Kosovo — January 30, 2009 — Nearly 85,000 residents in four municipalities of Kosovo will have clean drinking water, thanks to a project implemented by NGO International Relief and Development (IRD) in Kosovo and funded by USAID. Peja, Drenas, Klina and Malisheva are the municipalities that will benefit from this project, which will also improve sanitation problems.

These two promises were made on Friday by Richard Dangler, Chief of Party of the NGO International Relief and Development (IRD) in Kosovo. The Memorandum of Understanding for the implementation of this project was signed in Peja in the presence of the head of USAID Kosovo Patricia Rader.

In a statement at the signing, Rader said that the project is another project helping Kosovo from the American people. She added that the selection of municipalities was done according to the projects identified by communities, who identified the endangered zones that had contaminated water.

“Over 35 percent of the population of Kosovo, including those four municipalities, consume contaminated water,” Rader said.

After the signing of the MoU with Ali Berisha, Mayor of Peja; Nexhat Demaku, Mayor of Drenas; and the Vice Mayors of Malisheva and Klina, Richard Dangler declared that  Friday made the partnership between USAID and regional water companies official.

“The program has been designed to incorporate local governments, regional water companies and the donor in ensuring drinking water for the residents of these regions” said Dangler.

Ali Berisha, Mayor of Peja, valued the project as the best thing for these municipalities, declaring that without the help of USAID, it would be impossible to supply water for the regions suffering from the lack of drinking water. He also stated that for the first phase of the project, Peja will contribute 200,000 Euros for the villages of Lugu i Leshanit, Terstenik and Zahaq.

Nexhat Demaku, Mayor of Drenas, stated that the project is a great benefit for the municipalities that do not have a sufficient budget to provide drinking water for their own residents. He stated that firstly there would be investment in supplying drinking water in a few zones of Drenas and after this phase he has affirmed that the project will be addressing and solving sanitation problems.

The Friday Memorandum signed by the USAID and the municipalities predicts completion of activities within three years.