UNB, Dhaka :
The Government of Bangladesh and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Thursday signed a $250 million loan agreement to improve surface water supply system in Dhaka city.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin and Kazuhiko Higuchi, Country Director for ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides at a ceremony at ERD in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
The project titled ‘Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project’ will cost nearly $675 million.
On top of its loan, ADB will also partially administer a $100 million loan from Agence Française de Développement. The European Investment Bank is also providing a cofinancing loan of $100 million, while the Government of Bangladesh will provide almost $225 million. The project is expected to be
completed by December 2019. The project’s executing agency, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, plans to reduce the dependence on groundwater to about 30 percent of the total water supply by 2021, from the current 78 percent, to ensure environmentally sustainable water supply. The concessional assistance will help expand the coverage and quality of water supplies, and develop a new raw water intake at the Meghna River, about 22 kilometers east of Dhaka city, as well as a pumping station.
The assistance will also fund a water treatment plant at Gandharbapur, capable of handling 500 million liters a day, and install raw and treated water transmission pipelines.
These initiatives, under the Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project, are expected to reduce groundwater extraction by 150 million liters a day and help the city water authority raise its overall surface water supply to 1.9 billion liters a day by 2021.
“Dhaka needs more water for its booming population,” said Higuchi. “This assistance will support Dhaka’s water authority to improve facilities, and tap a new surface water source to help conserve precious groundwater sources of the city.”
The project will set up community-based organizations to help poor households obtain water through legal metered connections at a lower price.
The groups will be responsible for paying water bills and maintaining supply points while public awareness programs will improve community knowledge on water quality and public hygiene.
