$410m WB fund to improve basic urban services for 3.4m people

The government with US$410 million financial assistance from the World Bank (WB) on Sunday launched a project to improve municipal governance and basic urban services in city corporations and municipalities in the country.
The project will benefit some 3.4 million people in nearly 100 urban communities across Bangladesh.
The newly-launched 'Municipal Governance and Service Project' will provide financial support through the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) to the pre-selected 26 urban government bodies with high economic growth and job creation potentials. The urban bodies located along growth corridors leading from Dhaka towards Chittagong, Rangpur, Sylhet and Mymensingh, said a WB release.
The project will also cover three district towns in the south. Support will also be provided through the Bangladesh Municipal Development Fund (BMDF) to eligible municipalities in Bangladesh on concessional terms.
The WB is providing $410 million for this project and it came into effect from April 7. The launch of the project was attended by government representatives, mayors and officials of the city corporations and pourashavas.
"The urban population of Bangladesh got almost doubled between 1980 to 2010, increasing from 15 per cent to 30 per cent. Managing this rapid urbanization effectively in the coming years will be the key to sustaining Bangladesh's economic growth," said Christine E Kimes, acting Head of World Bank Bangladesh.
"This project aims to make the urban local bodies become strong, responsive and inclusive local government institutions able to provide better urban services to the people," she added.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed attended the programme as the chief guest while Local Government Division Senior Secretary Manzur Hossain, LGED chief engineer Wahidur Rahman and acting Head of the WB Bangladesh Christine E Kimes were present at the event.
The WB release said municipalities and towns play key roles in supporting economic growth, jobs creation and poverty reduction, and are growing rapidly.
However, they face challenges such as weak municipal finances and governance systems, insufficient administrative capacity, and inadequate basic urban services that constrain them from developing into competitive, innovative and livable places.
Through a demand-driven approach, the project aims to build roads, water and sanitation systems, markets, bus terminals, and municipal services centres in these communities. It will build a culture of responsible operations and routine maintenance of infrastructure assets.
Participating municipalities will receive a base allocation in the initial years of the project. Those that demonstrate improvements in basic urban services and urban governance will also get a performance-based allocation in subsequent years.
The application of a performance-based evaluation and allocation system would reward urban government bodies with more funds based on improvements in governance, citizen participation, capital investment planning, financial management, and revenue enhancement.