LGRD and Cooperatives Minister M Tajul Islam on Saturday said the present government is working relentlessly for further improvement of country’s sanitation sector to ensure water and sanitation for all to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2030.
“For achieving SDG, sewerage management is a big issue for the incumbent government… Its (government) sincere efforts and proper guidance have been playing a broad role for country’s sanitation sector,” he said.
The minister said this while addressing the national level consultation and review meeting held at Spectra Convention Centre in the city organized by City Wide Inclusive Sanitation (CVVIS) Bangladesh.
As the first step to combat this challenge, he said the local government published institutional and regulatory framework for the sewage management in the country.
Referring to the ever-growing population of the country, he said, around 20pc areas of Dhaka are under pipeline sewerage network, adding that this network has to be increased in line with the on-site system improvement.
He mentioned that recently Bangladesh has set a unique example in setting up innovation and model of sanitation in south Asia. Till 1990s, around 34pc of the countrymen used open defecation, however, today it is now below 1pc.”
With Chief Engineer Md Saifur Rahman, Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in the chair, the meeting was attended by State Minister for LGRD and Co-operatives Swapan Bhattacharya, Senior Secretary of Local Government Division (LGD) SM Ghulam Farooque and Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist Arif Ahamed as special guests, among others.
Mayors of different city and municipal corporations, university professors and officials of different development partners, Dhaka WASA, DPHE, LGED, Municipal Association of Bangladesh, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation along with various government and non-government organizations were present on the occasion.
