The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a US $250m loan agreement with the government to develop a surface water supply system in the capital city.
Economic Relations Division (ERD) Secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin and Country Director for ADB's Bangladesh Resident Mission Kazuhiko Higuchi signed the agreement on behalf of the government and ADB respectively at a ceremony at ERD office at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital, reports BSS.
The aid will develop a surface water supply system benefiting more than 11 million people in Dhaka, where groundwater is depleting rapidly.
The concessional assistance will help expand the coverage and quality of water supplies, and develop a new raw water intake at the Meghna River, about 22 kilometres east of Dhaka city, as well as a pumping station.
The assistance will also fund a water treatment plant at Gandharbpur, capable of handling 500m litres a day, and install raw and treated water transmission pipelines.
These initiatives, under the Dhaka Environmentally Sustainable Water Supply Project, are expected to reduce groundwater extraction by 150m litres a day and help the city water authority raise its overall surface water supply to 1.9bn litres a day by 2021.
The project's executing agency, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, plans to reduce the dependence on groundwater to about 30% of the total water supply by 2021, from the current 78%, to ensure environmentally sustainable water supply.