ADB gives $275m to help upgrade Dhaka's water supply

The Asian Development Bank has come up with $275 million in fresh loans for Bangladesh to help improve and expand the water supply system in Dhaka.

The Manila-based multilateral lender and the government of Bangladesh signed the loan agreement at the Economic Relations Division in Dhaka yesterday.

Mohammad Mejbahuddin, senior secretary of the ERD, and Kazuhiko Higuchi, ADB country director for Bangladesh, signed the deal.

"Dhaka city is expanding fast, and the demand for safe drinking water is rising rapidly," said Higuchi in a statement.

He said the project would help more than seven million people in Dhaka get access to safe, regular and affordable water services.

Earlier, the ADB provided the Dhaka Water Supply & Sewerage Authority with $400 million for improving the water supply system in the capital but physical water losses still need to be reduced to further improve service delivery in many areas.

The new ADB assistance under the Dhaka Water Supply Network Improvement Project will be used to rehabilitate water distribution pipelines and set up new district metered areas.

About 5,000 new and legalised connections will be established in low income communities, and 229,000 connections will be upgraded for households and communities.

The new project is targeting 24-hour piped water supplies to an additional 6.5 million people in the new district metered areas by 2022. Nonrevenue water losses will be cut to below 10 percent from the current approximate rate of around 30 percent.

A range of actions will be taken to boost the capacity of the staff to manage and operate the network effectively. Training will be provided to about 700 staff members, with 30 percent of them being women.

Assistance will also be given to help Dhaka WASA prepare an operational and financial improvement plan and to increase public awareness of water conservation.

Dhaka's demand for water is projected to rise to around 2,616 million litres a day in 2020, from 2,144 million litres a day in 2015.

Although the supply authority is taking steps to expand capacity with the ADB's help, it will not be enough to meet projected needs without a substantial cut in ongoing losses, according to the ADB.

Climate change, including rising sea levels that could increase salinisation of ground and surface water, is also expected to reduce available potable water.