The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Bangladesh government on Monday signed agreements on funding worth US$269.1 million in loans and US$62.6 million in grants to support water supply, power distribution, and displaced people from Myanmar.
Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, secretary of the ERD, and Hoe Yun Jeong, ADB country director, signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides at the Economic Relations Division conference room in Dhaka. ADB Director-General for South Asia Takeo Konishi attended the event as a witness.
Water supply in khulna
ADB and Bangladesh signed agreements for a $150 million loan and a $4.0 million grant to expand water supply services for unserved residents of Khulna city and to address groundwater salinity, ensuring a sustainable piped water supply during the dry season.
The project will provide 1.78 million people with a reliable supply of drinking water, upgrade existing infrastructure, and enhance the operations of the Khulna Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (KWASA).
The Khulna Water Supply Project (Phase 2) will expand piped water services to underserved communities through a scalable system designed to meet demand through 2050.
It will also introduce smart water supply management, expand supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, and extend district metering areas to reduce non-revenue water.
In addition, a $4.0 million technical assistance grant from the Urban Resilience Trust Fund under the Urban Financing Partnership Facility will support studies on artificial recharge and groundwater management.
Power distribution in northwest
The both sides also signed a $91 million agreement to enhance the quality, efficiency, reliability, and resilience of the power distribution network in Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions.
The Northwest Distribution Network Modernisation Project will establish a disaster recovery centre, expand the existing data centre, and upgrade transformer repair workshops. It will construct six new 33/11 kilovolt substations, build seven switching stations, and modernise 10 substations with gender-inclusive design features.
Rooftop solar with battery storage will be installed at critical control centres, while solar nano-grids will power flood shelters in riverine islands.
Grant financing of $2.0 million from ADB's Japan Fund for a Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR), funded by Japan, will further strengthen resilience and support income generation in flood-prone communities.
Grant for displaced people
ADB and Bangladesh also signed agreements for a $58.6 million grant from the Asian Development Fund (ADF) and a $28.1 million concessional loan to improve basic infrastructure and services for displaced people from Myanmar (DPFM) and host communities in Bangladesh.
This builds on earlier ADB support of $171.4 million in grants and loans since 2018 for displaced persons and host populations.
The Integrated Services and Livelihood for Displaced People from Myanmar and Host Communities Improvement Project will expand access to water, sanitation, hygiene, energy, food security, roads, bridges, and disaster resilience in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char.
In the camps, the project will install solar-powered streetlights, rehabilitate faecal sludge systems, and optimise biogas production.
For host communities, it will build cyclone shelters, introduce mini piped water systems, construct a surface water treatment plant with transmission pipelines, and improve roads to enhance connkectivity.
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