Lack of sanitation, safe water poses challenges in attaining SDG

Say speakers at a dialogue


FE REPORT | Published: February 26, 2020 01:14:16


Lack of sanitation, safe water poses challenges in attaining SDG

Speakers at a programme said on Tuesday that the safe water sources have been destroyed while Bangladesh lags behind in safely managed sanitation, use of shared latrine and faecal sludge management posing a challenge in attaining SDG-6. Speakers at a programme said on Tuesday that the safe water sources have been destroyed while Bangladesh lags behind in safely managed sanitation, use of shared latrine and faecal sludge management posing a challenge in attaining SDG-6. They said that Bangladesh government has an investment of $ 3.0 billion in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector but still has 'a financing gap.'Acknowledging water and sanitation as human rights as per t UN declaration, an additional secretary of Local Government Division (LGD) however said the government will not take the responsibility of WASH for the 170 million people, rather it will provide WASH for the 11.5 per cent ultra poor. Bangladesh will attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) much ahead of time, he added.The WASH rights activists, however, are not convinced with the investment scenario of $ 3.0 billion that the government show off as helpful for SDG-6.To them, most of this investment will go in infrastructure only and less in quality, maintenance, accountability and governance in the WASH sector apart from misappropriation of fund ultimately benefiting the minimum.The views came at a 'Civil Society and Multi-Stakeholder Dialogue: Preparation for FMM in Bangladesh' at YWCA Bhaban in the capital.Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) organised the dialogue ahead of the SWA Finance Ministers' Meeting (FMM) that will be held in Washington DC, US from April 13 to 19.The FMM will be hosted by and convened in partnership with the World Bank Water Global Practice.SWA Regional Coordinator for Asia and Pacific Siddhartha Das and SWA CSO Representative of South Asia Mohammed Zobair Hasan made two presentations. Special guest and Chief Engineer of Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) Saifur Rahman said that the basic water coverage in Bangladesh has reached to 98 per cent in the MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) report. But safely managed water has to be supplied to each doorstep to attain SDG which is challenging in this social and structural context.The sanitation target is same -- safely managed sanitation with no use of shared latrine -- where Bangladesh lags behind despite progress in reduction of open defecation.  Speakers mentioned that all the safe water sources are being contaminated by the solid waste and faecal sludge dumping, industrial pollution and encroachment of rivers, canals and water-bodies. The sewerage coverage in Dhaka city is only 20 per cent that is polluting rivers around Dhaka. Additional Secretary of Local Government Division (LGD) Zahirul Islam who was present as the chief guest said that the safe water sources have been destroyed by all. Additional Secretary of Local Government Division (LGD) Zahirul Islam who was present as the chief guest said that the safe water sources have been destroyed by all. He said that it is necessary to strengthen DPHE to ensure WASH in Bangladesh. "Although there is $ 3.0 billion investment in WASH sector, there is a huge gap in financing. We do not know the actual amount of the financing gap. We will be able to know after formulation of a National WASH Account," he said.

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