Business Desk :
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to provide $13.5 million to Bangladesh in additional project loan to modernise irrigation; improve management, operation, and maintenance of large-scale irrigation schemes; and protect productive lands from flooding.
The global lender signed agreements with the Bangladesh government on Thursday. The additional loan will scale up the ongoing $46 million Irrigation Management Improvement Project.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Fatima Yasmin and ADB Country Director Edimon Ginting virtually signed the loan agreements on behalf of the government and ADB, respectively.
“The assistance will help manage the effects of water abundance and scarcity by improving irrigation management and infrastructure,” Ginting said.
“To promote sustainability in water sector, this project will foster private sector participation by transferring management, operation, and maintenance of irrigation schemes from government departments to private operators.”
“It will also introduce innovative infrastructure modernization, such as replacing diesel motor pumps with electric pumps, developing highly efficient buried-pipe tertiary distribution systems, and installing prepaid card meter systems,” Ginting added.
The project will repair 17 km of coastal embankment and re-excavate over 400 km of canal drains.
By 2024, it will increase dry-season irrigation area under the Muhuri irrigation system by 60 per cent to 18,000 hectares. The average yield of irrigated winter paddy (boro) is expected to increase to 4 tonnes per hectare from 3 tonnes in 2013.
The project will ensure employment of at least 2 per cent women as pump operators, 5 per cent as mobile water unit vendors, and 5 per cent women as construction workers. The assistance supports improvement of climate resilience by promoting improved flood protection, reservoir management, and water use efficiency.
