UNB, Dhaka :
The government will provide about 50,000 improved latrines to rural poor households in 33 districts to help them improve their sanitation standard.
The latrines will be distributed in 383 unions of 97 upazilas under the Bangladesh Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (BRWSSP), being implemented by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), according to official sources.
Ahead of the distribution, the project officials have prepared a social map to identify the real beneficiaries, BRWSSP social development officer Muktadir Harun told UNB. He said the rural poor households can buy latrines from local latrine entrepreneurs developed under the project.
The entrepreneurs will develop three types of latrines with prices ranging from Tk 6,000 to 9,000. While buying latrines, the project will provide Tk 5,000 as cash incentive to every beneficiary.
“As per affordability of the households, they’ll buy latrines from among the three types, paying the remaining amount,” Harun said. The BRWSSP was taken with financial support from the World Bank to increase safe water supply and improve sanitation in rural areas. The World Bank is providing about $ 75 million for the project scheduled to end in 2017.
The BRWSSP’s aim is to implement rural piped water supply schemes as well as non-piped water supply options in rural areas where shallow aquifers are highly contaminated by arsenic and other pollutants such as salinity, iron, and bacterial pathogens.
Though the national rural water supply coverage in Bangladesh is estimated to be 97 percent, issues with water quality and in particular arsenic contamination have significantly lowered this figure to an estimated 83 percent (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2009 by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF).
The government will provide about 50,000 improved latrines to rural poor households in 33 districts to help them improve their sanitation standard.
The latrines will be distributed in 383 unions of 97 upazilas under the Bangladesh Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (BRWSSP), being implemented by the Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), according to official sources.
Ahead of the distribution, the project officials have prepared a social map to identify the real beneficiaries, BRWSSP social development officer Muktadir Harun told UNB. He said the rural poor households can buy latrines from local latrine entrepreneurs developed under the project.
The entrepreneurs will develop three types of latrines with prices ranging from Tk 6,000 to 9,000. While buying latrines, the project will provide Tk 5,000 as cash incentive to every beneficiary.
“As per affordability of the households, they’ll buy latrines from among the three types, paying the remaining amount,” Harun said. The BRWSSP was taken with financial support from the World Bank to increase safe water supply and improve sanitation in rural areas. The World Bank is providing about $ 75 million for the project scheduled to end in 2017.
The BRWSSP’s aim is to implement rural piped water supply schemes as well as non-piped water supply options in rural areas where shallow aquifers are highly contaminated by arsenic and other pollutants such as salinity, iron, and bacterial pathogens.
Though the national rural water supply coverage in Bangladesh is estimated to be 97 percent, issues with water quality and in particular arsenic contamination have significantly lowered this figure to an estimated 83 percent (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2009 by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF).
