`Tk 1.50 trillion SDP on water supply, sanitation finalised

Yasir Wardad The government has finalised the 15-year Sector Development Plan (SDP) on water supply and sanitation sector in Bangladesh costing nearly Tk 1.50 trillion, officials said. "The SDP for the time period between the fiscal years 2011-2025, (FY11-25) has been prepared by the Local Government Division (LGD) under the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C) that also put special emphasis on hill tracts and haor areas", Md Shariful Islam, project director (policy support unit) of the LGD said. Talking to the FE he said, "It will serve as a planning framework for the implementation and monitoring of all activities in developing water supply and sanitation (WSS) services in the country." He said, "The SDP has addressed issues such as the depletion of groundwater storages (both in terms of quality and quantity) and salinity". "Arsenic incursion in both surface water and groundwater also has been lectured to ensure the sustainable management in the water sector in the plan," he said. Comparing the previous SDP 2005, Mr Islam said, "The SDP 2011 incorporates separate analyses and planning for the regions such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts and haors that are lagging behind in terms of hygienic promotion and sanitation". He pointed out that in order to comply with the SDP, the budgetary allocation needs to be doubled than the current allocation. "According to the plan, the implementation of the three five years' phases will require Tk 380.41 billion, Tk 524.02 billion and Tk 561.08 billion respectively," he informed. Mr Islam also mentioned that the plan includes three scenarios from which they chose the medium one while the finest scenario (scenario-3) would cost more than Tk 1.75 trillion. According to the plan, five government bodies including the LGD and Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) will be involved in the implementation that will also include the assistance of donor agencies such as UNICEF. MoLGRD&C secretary Abu Alam Md Shahid Khan said, "The SDP is the first planning document of its kind that has been developed in a bottom-up approach to provide safe water and sanitation for all." When asked he said: "SDP will be implemented in collaboration with all sector partners -- public sectors that includes ADP, DPs and revenue from utilities; private sector including private household investment and private entrepreneurs; NGOs including donors". "Majority of the cost of first phase of SDP would come from the ADP allocation (55 per cent) while 23 per cent from utility revenue and 18 per cent from private house hold for using tubewells and latrines," he informed. He said, "The time bound SDP also has put emphasis on the issues of sliding water supply in rural areas that include the threats of arsenic contamination". "It has addressed lowering of groundwater levels in the northwest and the central regions, lack of sanitation in hard-to-reach areas and salinity intrusion in the coastal regions," the secretary said. According to the joint monitoring programme of World Health Organisation (WHO), following the water supply and sanitation (WSS) coverage, Bangladesh scores 80 per cent in water supply. "It is lower than the global and South Asian regional coverage both where it is 87 per cent, for Sri Lanka, 90 per cent, India 88 per cent and Pakistan 90 per cent," the report said. Bangladesh's sanitation coverage scores 53 per cent that stands between the global and South Asian coverage of 61 per cent and 36 per cent respectively, the report concludes.