$120m ADB loan for improving urban planning in two cities

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FE Report
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US$ 120 million loan for the improvement of urban planning and services in Bangladesh.
The ADB loan will be made available for overhauling urban planning and infrastructure in two of its biggest city regions where services have struggled to keep up with booming populations, an ADB press statement said Thursday.
The project aims to target energy-efficient, environment-friendly urban services, more coordinated regional development planning, and stronger management capacity for municipalities in the sprawling city regions of Dhaka and Khulna, which include surrounding secondary towns.
"The goal is to increase the growth potential and environmental sustainability of these two city regions," the statement said, quoting Masayuki Tachiiri, Urban Economist in ADB's South Asia Department.
Bangladesh's cities have been growing at breakneck pace with the urban population expected to double to 74 million by 2035, it said.
However, planning and services have failed to expand at the same pace, resulting in sanitation, drainage, water supply and other problems, which have restricted economic and social activities, it noted.
According to the ADB statement, a metropolitan development plan for Dhaka, covering the period of 1995 to 2015, has been slow to rollout and is fast becoming outdated, undermining the city's potential for growth.
Along with physical improvements to water, drainage, urban transport and other facilities the project will incorporate a pilot programme that will install energy-efficient water pumps and solar-powered street lights, it mentioned.
"This will deliver substantial cost savings for municipal authorities as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions - an increasingly important issue for Bangladesh, which is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change," it said.
Based on a study to simulate climate change impacts, the project will also support adaptation measures to strengthen climate change resilience, notably the improvement of drainage in Khulna.