Staff Reporeter :
Representatives of various development agencies, donor agencies and network organisations’ at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity jointly called on Tuesday for action to minimize the growing urban-rural disparity and more allocation in remote and disadvantaged rural settings to reduce gap.
In the conference the speakers urged for considering vulnerable and marginalized people including rural poor, urban slum-dwellers, natural disaster victims and arsenic-affected communities while designing and allocating WASH projects. They pleaded for allocating budget for these special projects and demanded implementation of the same immediately.
The representatives from the WASH sectors urged for specific long-term WASH projects in line with government’s sector development plan to attain SDG. Need for a separate budget line for WASH to better track the allocation and implementation countrywide has also been proposed.
The proposed national budget for 2016-17 has seen a slight rise in allocation for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, however, the challenge remains in minimizing urban-rural disparity. Per capita allocation in urban area is Tk 1,121 against Tk 55 for the rural. A massive 86 per cent of the WASH allocation has been earmarked for big cities.
Good news is a project amounting Tk 500 crore has been proposed for hard-to-reach areas, however, it is yet to be funded. Although three new special projects for remote and disadvantaged communities and arsenic-prone areas has been proposed but no allocation has been made. Moreover, no allocation is kept in the proposed budget for cyclone-prone coastal areas, even though government project is there, said the speakers.
WaterAid Bangladesh, HDRC, UNICEF, WSSCC-B, FANSA-BD, BWA, BAWIN, EWP and NGO Forum for Public Health jointly organised the press conference.
Representatives of various development agencies, donor agencies and network organisations’ at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity jointly called on Tuesday for action to minimize the growing urban-rural disparity and more allocation in remote and disadvantaged rural settings to reduce gap.
In the conference the speakers urged for considering vulnerable and marginalized people including rural poor, urban slum-dwellers, natural disaster victims and arsenic-affected communities while designing and allocating WASH projects. They pleaded for allocating budget for these special projects and demanded implementation of the same immediately.
The representatives from the WASH sectors urged for specific long-term WASH projects in line with government’s sector development plan to attain SDG. Need for a separate budget line for WASH to better track the allocation and implementation countrywide has also been proposed.
The proposed national budget for 2016-17 has seen a slight rise in allocation for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector, however, the challenge remains in minimizing urban-rural disparity. Per capita allocation in urban area is Tk 1,121 against Tk 55 for the rural. A massive 86 per cent of the WASH allocation has been earmarked for big cities.
Good news is a project amounting Tk 500 crore has been proposed for hard-to-reach areas, however, it is yet to be funded. Although three new special projects for remote and disadvantaged communities and arsenic-prone areas has been proposed but no allocation has been made. Moreover, no allocation is kept in the proposed budget for cyclone-prone coastal areas, even though government project is there, said the speakers.
WaterAid Bangladesh, HDRC, UNICEF, WSSCC-B, FANSA-BD, BWA, BAWIN, EWP and NGO Forum for Public Health jointly organised the press conference.
