The community water supply and sanitation projects in the Upper Neelum valley has been started with the following objectives:

Provision of substantial direct health benefits to the communities

Improving the quality of water of the Neelum

River that is a source of water for drinking and irrigation in the valley.

View map of
project area

Making the project area more desirable for ecotourism which is a potential, continuous and hence a major source of income for the communities.

Strengthen the relationship of HWF and the AJK Wildlife Department with the communities and indirectly support the implementation of conservation and natural resource management initiative currently being implemented by HWF in the project area.

The project area covers an extended corridor, starting from Gumot National Park (GNP) and the adjacent Surgun valley (in the proposed Neelum District), and ending at the Minimarg valley and the Nanga Parbat Conservancy in the NAs.  Overall, the project will span over the Neelam valley past Sharda town, extending westwards to Shontar valley, Gurez area, Dudgai valley, passing over Kamri Top, to Minimarg valley.  In the north, the project areas are bounded by Dudupat National Park in the NWFP, and in the south by the Line of Control (LoC).

The population of the project area is concentrated in villages scattered over the main Neelum valley, and the side valleys of Surgun, Shontur, and Gurez valley.  Excluding the urban and peri-urban centers of Sharda and Kel, there are about 40 villages and rural clusters in the project area with the number of households per village ranging from 20 to over a hundred.  In addition, transient herders or Gujjars also pass through Neelum valley, camping in Dudgai and Shontur valleys throughout the summer season.  A substantial number of the households fall close to or below the poverty line; surviving on a subsistence economy.